|
Posted by R. C. White on May 20, 2006, 12:57 pm
Please log in for more thread options
Hi, John.
> Frankly, I have yet to find a use for putting the date in the file name.
Me, too.
To the OP: We've had many discussions of backups in this NG over the years.
As DP points out, there's a big difference between the automatic backups
that Quicken does without prompting and the ones that WE do when Quicken
reminds us. There's also plenty of opportunity to misinterpret the Quicken
Backup window. (As I was taught long ago about writing audit reports: It
is important to write so that you can be understood. It is far more
important to be sure than you cannot possibly be MISunderstood. And that is
Intuit's sin here and other places in Quicken.)
For example, when we click Edit | Preferences | Quicken Program | Backup, we
see a screen that looks pretty straightforward. It asks for just 2 numbers.
But it is not immediately apparent that the two numbers refer to the two
different backup strategies. The first number is for how often Quicken
should remind us to backup to OUR choice of filename and location. The
second number is how many backup sets Quicken should save automatically in
QuickenBackup - using Quicken's choice of filename and location. And the
final box (Warn before overwriting old files) applies only to our "manual"
backups; it has no meaning for the automatic backups since Quicken has its
own procedure for deleting the oldest set, then renaming the newer sets, and
finally writing a new set.
This preferences screen is easy to understand, but it is far too easy to
MISinterpret - and that is Intuit's fault! They've had many chances to
correct it in successive versions, and they have not.
The Quicken Backup screen also is clear - IF you read it carefully. But a
quick glance, guessing at what you THINK it might say, will get you into
trouble. It's too easy to MISunderstand.
Box 1 asks for the SOURCE file, which is almost always the one you are
currently working on and is already open in Quicken. This filename is
already filled in, although you can browse to a different file or type in
one of your choice. (This is ONLY for those rare occasions when you want to
backup a file that you are NOT currently working on.) As usual in Quicken,
only the *.QDF file is shown, but the entire fileSET (including *.QEL,
*.QTX, etc., depending on your own use of Quicken) will be included in the
backup. The backup fileset will get the same name as the source fileset
UNLESS you check the box to add the date to the name. (This is the option
that sounds SO useful but, John and I agree, is seldom if ever of any
benefit.)
Box 2 asks for the DESTINATION of the backup fileset. Note that it does not
ask for the file NAME, only the FOLDER where the backup will go. Also note
that the contents of this box are persistent. That is, once you've told it
to put THIS backup into D:QBAK (for example), you should not have to enter
the location again for successive backups, unless you decide to put the
later backup in some other location - or to make multiple backups to
multiple locations. Quicken will overwrite these with later backups, if you
like, but it will not delete one. (The text under this box made a lot of
sense when we were backing up weekly to floppy disks, and it still applies
when we are using rewriteable CD/DVDs. But it doesn't apply to backups that
always go to the same fallback location on our second HD, for example. And
this is where the warning against overwriting previous backups would apply,
if you choose to see the warning. A few versions ago, Quicken insisted on
warning us every time, even when we unchecked the box in Preferences, but
our complaints finally got them to fix that one.)
Quicken's strategy is good, if not always well-implemented.
C:QuickenQDATA.* will always be up-to-the-minute.
C:QuickenBACKUPQDATA1.* will always be less than a week old, with
QDATA2.* less than 2 weeks old, etc. And Quicken will remind you
periodically to make further backups; these further backups can be - and
should be - to some location(s) other than the hard drive that holds Quicken
and the automatic backups. Even putting a backup on a different location on
the same HD provides some protection against a file system glitch - but not
much. Much better, if you have multiple HDs, is to put your backup on the
second HD, so that death of your first HD does not take your manual backup
along with your automatic ones. Even better is to use removable media that
can be stored away from the computer. And, of course, there are many other
strategies for more protection. But in previous discussions, we've kind of
agreed that there can be such a thing as too many backups that simply waste
space and invite confusion. Keep the automatics; keep at least one current
manual backup; and keep archival backups of the last year-end or other
milestone. And keep at least the milestones physically separated from your
computer, in case of fire or other disaster.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
(Retired - no longer licensed to practice)
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
>
>
>
>>> This is poor programming on the part of Intuit. If there is an option
>>> to limit the
>>> number of backup files, then it should be trivial for Quicken to keep
>>> track of when each
>>> backup was created, and automatically delete the oldest backup when a
>>> new backup is
>>> written. The fact that the file names are unique should not be a burden
>>> to limiting the
>>> number of backup files.
>
>> I believe it does that already with the automatic backups (the ones it
>> does without prompting you).
>> What you're talking about are the backups that don't get done unless you
>> click OK to the backup when prompted. These are the ones you're naming
>> yourself. At least I'm pretty sure that's what you're talking about.
>> I'm not necessarily defending the programming. I'm just trying to clear
>> up some confusion.
>
> You're correct; Quicken makes no attempt to control the number of user
> backups.
>
> And it would not be a trivial exercise to try to do it. Backups may be
> moved. They may be copied. They may be renamed. All outside of Quicken.
> It would be virtually impossible for Quicken to keep track of them all and
> know which could be deleted.
>
> The problem with the unique named backups is that they guarantee that no
> opportunity to "overwrite" the previous backup will occur. Frankly, I
> have yet to find a use for putting the date in the file name.
|
|
Posted by Robert Ginn on May 20, 2006, 2:21 pm
Please log in for more thread options
R. C. White wrote:
> when we click Edit | Preferences | Quicken Program |
> Backup, we see a screen that looks pretty straightforward. It asks for
> just 2 numbers. But it is not immediately apparent that the two numbers
> refer to the two different backup strategies. The first number is for
> how often Quicken should remind us to backup to OUR choice of filename
> and location. The second number is how many backup sets Quicken should
> save automatically in QuickenBackup - using Quicken's choice of
> filename and location. And the final box (Warn before overwriting old
> files) applies only to our "manual" backups; it has no meaning for the
> automatic backups since Quicken has its own procedure for deleting the
> oldest set, then renaming the newer sets, and finally writing a new set.
>
> This preferences screen is easy to understand, but it is far too easy to
> MISinterpret - and that is Intuit's fault! They've had many chances to
> correct it in successive versions, and they have not.
Many thanks to you all, and especially to John for the naming info and to RC for
the above info ---
that is exactly what I needed. The Preferences screen APPEARS to be easy to
understand, but you
don't understand it until someone tells you what the boxes refer to, which
Quicken doesn't.
Bob
|
|
Posted by Antoine Mitchell on May 20, 2006, 3:34 pm
Please log in for more thread options >You're correct; Quicken makes no attempt to control the number
>of user backups.
>
>And it would not be a trivial exercise to try to do it.
Bullshit.
>Backups
>may be moved. They may be copied. They may be renamed. All
>outside of Quicken. It would be virtually impossible for
>Quicken to keep track of them all and know which could be
>deleted.
True, however in the vast majority of cases, backups will all be kept in the
same
directory. The code for "if there are more than X backups in this directory,
delete the
one with the oldest date stamp before writing a new one" isn't hugely
complicated.
>The problem with the unique named backups is that they guarantee
>that no opportunity to "overwrite" the previous backup will
>occur. Frankly, I have yet to find a use for putting the date
>in the file name.
Agreed, but one might wonder why Intuit put that as an option in the program,
combined
with a "limit the number of backups" option.
|
|
Posted by DP on May 20, 2006, 3:47 pm
Please log in for more thread options
>>The problem with the unique named backups is that they guarantee
>>that no opportunity to "overwrite" the previous backup will
>>occur. Frankly, I have yet to find a use for putting the date
>>in the file name.
>
> Agreed, but one might wonder why Intuit put that as an option in the
> program, combined
> with a "limit the number of backups" option.
As explained by another poster, the limit on the number of backups is on the
automatic ones, which you have no control over the naming of. These are not
the same backups as the ones that allow you to append the date to the name.
I agree it is confusing and Quicken's options are confusing when you're
configuring backup.
I wonder if anyone has ever brought this to their attention on their
website?
|
|
Posted by John Pollard on May 20, 2006, 4:05 pm
Please log in for more thread options > invalid@invalid.com says...
>>You're correct; Quicken makes no attempt to control the number
>>of user backups.
>>
>>And it would not be a trivial exercise to try to do it.
>
> Bullshit.
>
>>Backups
>>may be moved. They may be copied. They may be renamed. All
>>outside of Quicken. It would be virtually impossible for
>>Quicken to keep track of them all and know which could be
>>deleted.
> True, however in the vast majority of cases, backups will all
> be kept in the same
> directory.
I disagree; you will have to provide proof of this.
> The code for "if there are more than X backups in this
> directory, delete the
> one with the oldest date stamp before writing a new one" isn't
> hugely complicated.
Code that only works most of the time - even "the vast majority
of" time - doesn't sound like code I would want in my
applications.
I was not referring to the simple problem that you are trying to
substitute for what I described; I was referring to the problem
caused by the inability to insure that backups had not been
moved, copied, or renamed ... compensating for that would not be
trivial, it would in fact be nearly impossible.
There are much simpler methods for users to control the number
of backups they keep without putting any additional code in
Quicken.
More importantly, the entire subject has nothing to do with the
op's problem.
>>The problem with the unique named backups is that they
>>guarantee
>>that no opportunity to "overwrite" the previous backup will
>>occur. Frankly, I have yet to find a use for putting the date
>>in the file name.
> Agreed, but one might wonder why Intuit put that as an option
> in the program, combined
> with a "limit the number of backups" option.
Clearly you have a problem with comprehension. As we have
explained, the limit on the number of Quicken backups has
absolutely nothing to do with user-initiated backups - there is
no option to limit those backups ... and user-initiated backups
are the only ones that get dates added to their names.
|
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Quicken 2007 H&B - Simple Addition in the Register (Sum of selected transactions) | March 21, 2007, 2:20 pm |
| backups | May 18, 2006, 8:29 pm |
| Quicken Backups | July 14, 2007, 11:46 am |
| Can't take 2 consecutive backups | March 18, 2008, 12:52 am |
| Curious about backups | October 20, 2008, 10:32 pm |
| I need a psychiatrist over my Quicken 2006 Backups... | May 21, 2008, 1:10 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap