Upgrading from Q6 to Q11

A neighbor has been running Quicken 6 for years until his hard drive crashed. He bought a new Windows 7 computer but it rejects Quicken 6, so he's going to buy Quicken 11,

I was able to salvage his quickenw folder from the old HD. It contains a folder called backup which itself contains files of type ABD, QBD, QEL, QMD, QSD and QSV dated this year.

Assuming that these are his most recent files, how should he proceed to install Q11 and get it to read those files?

Thanks.

Reply to
Cy Burnot
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Cy Burnot wrote in news:j2fdov$hlp$1 @dont-email.me:

Google. says among other things:

Important: If you are converting from an older version of Quicken, it may be necessary to use an intermediate version in order to safely convert your data file. For more information, go here.

Reply to
Han

"Cy Burnot" wrote

Some of those files aren't Quicken files (ABD, QBD, QSV) and the most important file (QDF) isn't listed. Without the QDF file, you have no Quicken file. Also not listed, the QPH file, which is the Quicken security price history, which would be important if the user tracks any securities in Quicken.

The "BACKUP" folder contains Quicken automatic backups (generally done approximately every 7 days), and the files in that folder that are members of a Quicken automatic backup will have a single digit suffixed to their name (so QDF1 would be the most recent backup of the main Quicken file). Quicken will save as many as 9 automatic backups (the exact number is a user option).

If the user makes manual backups (which they should), I personally believe those manual backups should be in a different folder, though I think some users put their backups in the BACKUP folder. User initiated backups have no suffixes on the Windows file names.

And the current Quicken fileset (which will often be the most recent data) is, naturally, in the folder in which "BACKUP" resides (QUICKENW in this case) ... not in BACKUP.

In the past, I believe Quicken created the QUICKENW folder in the Windows programs folder; the Quicken data folder should definitely not go in any Windows program folder ... especially in Windows 7 (or in any folder to which the Quicken Windows user does not have read and write access).

Reply to
John Pollard

John Pollard has written on 8/17/2011 8:26 AM:

Just searched the entire old HD and there are no QDF files. So I guess he's out of luck.

Reply to
Cy Burnot

Cy Burnot wrote in news:j2glmc$880$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

WARNING:

Keep reliable printed records and/or multiple reliable electronic copies.

Reply to
Han

"Cy Burnot" wrote

Make sure the Windows Explorer option to hide extensions for known file types is not selected.

Reply to
John Pollard

Han has written on 8/17/2011 12:06 PM:

Don't tell me! Tell him!! :-)

Reply to
Cy Burnot

John Pollard has written on 8/17/2011 12:43 PM:

I use Total Commander as my file manager?

Are QDFs ever hidden?

Reply to
Cy Burnot

Cy Burnot wrote in news:j2h716$vub$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

I am, you're just the messenger .

Reply to
Han

I don't know anything about Total Commander.

But QDF is almost always a known file type for Windows (Quicken should register it when it installs). If the option to hide those known extensions is selected in Windows Explorer, the known extensions won't display in Windows Explorer ... though the file name will.

Reply to
John Pollard

John Pollard has written on 8/17/2011 5:21 PM:

I misunderstood what you said. As an old CP/M user, I always want to see extensions.

Reply to
Cy Burnot

Hi, Cy.

May be time to bring out the big hammer. :^{

Open a Command Prompt window (what we old-timers still call a DOS window, even though we know it's not real MS-DOS). Almost all the old familiar commands from DOS days still work here, including good old DIR. And, as with any command in the DOS window, just type it followed by /? to see a mini-Help file listing the switches and parameters available with that command, as in: dir /?

At the C:> prompt, type in: C:>dir *.qdf /s /a

Be prepared for a wait if there are lot of files, because the /s switch makes it look in every subdirectory - and since you are starting in the root, C:\, it will look through the entire drive. The /a switch probably isn't necessary; it lists ALL files, including those with attributes such as System or Hidden. If there is a *.qdf file anywhere on Drive C:, this will list it.

I gotta run now, but this should get you started. Post back if you need more details.

RC

-- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX (Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.) snipped-for-privacy@grandecom.net Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010) (Using Quicken Deluxe 2011 R 8 and Windows Live Mail in Win7 x64)

John Pollard has written on 8/17/2011 12:43 PM:

I use Total Commander as my file manager?

Are QDFs ever hidden?

Reply to
R. C. White

R. C. White has written on 8/17/2011 6:28 PM:

Total Commander is my big hammer. It will do the search you mentioned, and in this case, has already done so. No QDF files, of any nature survived.

TC can be found at

formatting link

Reply to
Cy Burnot

I just did a Google search on the file extensions you listed. Based on search results the QMD file was the data file for Quicken 5 and 6. You may still have a good file.

Don't throw anything away, and try the intermediate versions to convert the data. You may still have a chance.

Reply to
Jim H

Aha!

Can I install an intermediate version on a machine that has Q11 installed?

Reply to
Cy Burnot

me too - I still have my 8" disks laying around somewhere, and even a source code listing for all of CP/M -

BTW - back on topic - hard to imagine that you found several of the Quicken files, but not the single most important file - QDF ? Wonder if Q2006 did something different ? I had to upgrade from Win 98 when Quicken would no longer run on it, and just produced a warning message about "un-supported OS" and exited.

Reply to
ps56k

ps56k has written on 8/18/2011 4:20 PM:

I donated those and my IMSAI 8080 with Z-80 processor, but I still have my Kaypro 10

Q06 did not use QDFs and Q10 doesn't recognize the file types it does use. :-(

Reply to
Cy Burnot

formatting link

Reply to
Zaidy036

Zaidy036 has written on 8/19/2011 2:00 PM:

Thanks.

Reply to
Cy Burnot

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