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Subject Author Date
Still Backup Problems - Terri 04-10-2008
Posted by Terri on April 11, 2008, 2:42 pm
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 Well - have done some searches and it seems that in the Backup File there
are QEL, QDF and IDX files but they do NOT say backup - they say
A-name-08_03312008.IDX, the same for .QDF and the same for >QEL. Nothing
says copy or backup ..

>
>> Well - In the main quicken folder: A-name07_12312007BKP.QEL
>> A-Name07_12312007BKP.QDF
>> A-Name07_12312007KP.IDX
>>
>> There are others that say copy.qel/qdf/idx
>> and those that do not say copy
>>
>> There are two different accounts there....
>>
>> Will this help?
>>
>> Terri
>>> Terri wrote:
>>>> Well - I apologize to you all for still being here and posting the
>>>> same problem. After reading so much info on 2006, I find I have NO
>>>> QDATA files at all! My files are in C:Documents and
>>>> SettingsmynameiMy DocumentsQuicken and then there is a folder
>>>> called BackUp but I see no Qdata files. I see QEL, DQF, IDX and some
>>>> FXLOG.DAR I am so frustrated and interestingly enough, have been
>>>> using Quicken
>>>> for years so I am not new to this and never had problems in years
>>>> past. It is only now that this problem is starting.
>>>> Grrr - I am embarrased but want to straighten this out before I turn
>>>> gray (grayer!!)
>>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> If you have a folder called 'BACKUP' in your Quicken data folder,
>>> that's where the Quicken backups are. You say you "see" files called
>>> "QEL, DQF, IDX ", (probably mean QDF by the way). I doubt that's the
>>> full name. What you listed are the filetypes (ie: the 3 letters after
>>> the dot in a filename) of Quicken files (like QDATA.QDF, QDATA.QEL,
>>> etc.). But one does NOT need to use the default filename (the
>>> letters in front of the dot) of 'QDATA'. Since I maintain 4 people's
>>> books on mine, I have four peoples names (like JOAN.*, BOB.*, TOM.*
>>> where * are the filetypes (eg: BOB.QEL, TOM.QDF, etc.) in mine.
>>> Maybe you too changed the default, thus you won't see 'QDATA.*' files
>>> either?
>>>
>>> So what's the *full* filenames of those .QEL, .QDF, .IDX , etc. files
>>> in your backup folder?
>>>
>>> (Am as I am sure you know, this BACKUP folder is the folder that
>>> Quicken uses for its automatic backups; you can also use any location
>>> you wish for backups that YOU create with the backup command
>>> (FILE-->BACKUP) where you get to 'browse' to select a directory to
>>> put your manual backups in.)
>>>
>>> --
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Regards -
>>>
>>> - Andrew
>>>
> I think you need to search for all "*.qdf" files (without the quotes) on
> your drive(s).
>
> A part of the names you provided looks like a backup file where you let
> Quicken add the date of the backup to the file(s), although my backup
> files look like "filename_20080410.QDF", for today's backup.
>
> I think the file(s) without the added date that are most recent are yor
> last modified file(s). Once you have the "filename.qdf" you will need to
> get all the files of the file set. Normally in the same folder, but I
> would also search for "filename.*". Note that the timestamps may not all
> be the same, because some files are left unchanged.
>
> I would make sure that you end up with just 1 directory of user-initiated
> backups, and not a whole bunch of nested backup folders.
>
> HTH!
> --
> Best regards
> Han
> email address is invalid



Posted by Han on April 11, 2008, 8:36 pm
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> Well - have done some searches and it seems that in the Backup File
> there are QEL, QDF and IDX files but they do NOT say backup - they say
> A-name-08_03312008.IDX, the same for .QDF and the same for >QEL.
> Nothing says copy or backup ..
>
<snip>

This suggests your original filename is A-name-08, and you backed up on
3/31/2008. Please note that there is an apparent typo above, at least I
think you meant .QEL, not >QEL. Computers do not correct typos at the
filename level. DAMHIKT (look up on acronymfinder.com) <grimmace>

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Posted by Andrew on April 12, 2008, 10:23 am
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Han wrote:
>
>> Well - have done some searches and it seems that in the Backup File
>> there are QEL, QDF and IDX files but they do NOT say backup - they
>> say A-name-08_03312008.IDX, the same for .QDF and the same for >QEL.
>> Nothing says copy or backup ..
>>
> <snip>
>
> This suggests your original filename is A-name-08, and you backed up
> on 3/31/2008. Please note that there is an apparent typo above, at
> least I think you meant .QEL, not >QEL. Computers do not correct
> typos at the filename level. DAMHIKT (look up on acronymfinder.com)
> <grimmace>

Then you are ok. The names of the 'backup' files that Quicken automatically
produce do NOT say backup; they are simply the same fileset names in the
'BACKUP' folder. So you are ok and you found your automatically created
backups which was, I think, your original post.

Now, note, these are NOT the same as USER-SPECIFIED backups which you can
create (see my original post on 4/10), append a date/time stamp information
on the filename, and place ANYWHERE on your computer (or network if you have
mapped drives, I would also believe). Many of us do these user-specified
backups regularly to keep a set off of the same drive as your 'real' files
to deal with media failure problems - if you lost your single harddrive
(typically, c:), you'd lose both your 'real' data as well as the Quicken
automatic files since, as you see now, they are contained in the subfolder
'BACKUP' on the same drive.

--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Regards -

- Andrew



Posted by R. C. White on April 12, 2008, 10:05 pm
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Hi, Andrew.

> The names of the 'backup' files that Quicken automatically produce do NOT
> say backup; they are simply the same fileset names in the 'BACKUP' folder.

Not quite. QDATA.QDF becomes QDATA1.QDF - and other files are similarly
renamed by appending a single numeral to the end of the original filename,
before the extension.

The first automatic backup is made about a week after Quicken is installed
and run for the first time. All the files in the QDATA.* fileset are copied
to the automatically-created QuickenBACKUP folder as QDATA1.QDF,
QDATA1.QEL, etc. A week later, all the QDATA1.* files are renamed
QDATA2.QDF, etc., before the current QDATA files are saved as the new QDATA1
set. The next week, the QDATA2 files become QDATA3, QDATA1 files are
renamed QDATA2, and so on. After the 5th week, QDATA5 files are deleted
before QDATA4 is renamed to QDATA5. From that point on, we should always
have 5 complete backup filesets, dated a week apart, with the latest set
named QDATA1.

These are default filenames, of course. If YOUR Quicken file is named
Terri.QDF, then your latest backup will be Terri1.QDF. And you can choose
to keep up to 9 sets of weekly automatic backups, or as few as 1 (see Edit |
Preferences | Quicken Program | Backups).

I strongly recommend that you keep your filenames no longer than 7
characters, saving room for the single digit that Quicken will add. (While
Windows allows Long File Names, Quicken limits them to 8 characters, plus
the extension, a carryover from MS-DOS days.) And make sure the final
character is not a numeral. It gets very confusing when trying to remember
whether RCW21 is the 21st version of RCW or the 1st backup of RCW2. Or if
RCW2 is the second backup of RCW or the current version of the RCW2 file,
created when we started over because the original RCW file was damaged.
(Yep, that's the voice of experience talkin'.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Quicken 2008 Deluxe in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

> Han wrote:
>>
>>> Well - have done some searches and it seems that in the Backup File
>>> there are QEL, QDF and IDX files but they do NOT say backup - they
>>> say A-name-08_03312008.IDX, the same for .QDF and the same for >QEL.
>>> Nothing says copy or backup ..
>>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> This suggests your original filename is A-name-08, and you backed up
>> on 3/31/2008. Please note that there is an apparent typo above, at
>> least I think you meant .QEL, not >QEL. Computers do not correct
>> typos at the filename level. DAMHIKT (look up on acronymfinder.com)
>> <grimmace>
>
> Then you are ok. The names of the 'backup' files that Quicken
> automatically produce do NOT say backup; they are simply the same fileset
> names in the 'BACKUP' folder. So you are ok and you found your
> automatically created backups which was, I think, your original post.
>
> Now, note, these are NOT the same as USER-SPECIFIED backups which you can
> create (see my original post on 4/10), append a date/time stamp
> information on the filename, and place ANYWHERE on your computer (or
> network if you have mapped drives, I would also believe). Many of us do
> these user-specified backups regularly to keep a set off of the same drive
> as your 'real' files to deal with media failure problems - if you lost
> your single harddrive (typically, c:), you'd lose both your 'real' data as
> well as the Quicken automatic files since, as you see now, they are
> contained in the subfolder 'BACKUP' on the same drive.
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Regards -
>
> - Andrew


Posted by Han on April 13, 2008, 6:31 am
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> I strongly recommend that you keep your filenames no longer than 7
> characters, saving room for the single digit that Quicken will add.
> (While Windows allows Long File Names, Quicken limits them to 8
> characters, plus the extension, a carryover from MS-DOS days.)

That is certainly true through Q2006. I believe it is not so anymore with
Q2008, but K.I.S.S. is a good principle - Keep It Simple Stupido!!

> And
> make sure the final character is not a numeral. It gets very
> confusing when trying to remember whether RCW21 is the 21st version of
> RCW or the 1st backup of RCW2. Or if RCW2 is the second backup of RCW
> or the current version of the RCW2 file, created when we started over
> because the original RCW file was damaged. (Yep, that's the voice of
> experience talkin'.)

That is also why I keep my backups in a different place then Quickens
autobackups.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

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