Transferring quicken data files between 2 computers

Posted by thefourthwall on July 21, 2009, 9:27 am

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Hello,

Being new to Quicken from Money, I see lots of things are done
differently. However, I do wonder if it is possible to transfer the
"data file" between the two computers on which Quicken has been
installed. Versions: Quicken Premier 2009 on XP pro. thank you.

Posted by R. C. White on July 21, 2009, 10:59 am

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Hi, Lawrence.

If you have the hardware, it's easy. And the hardware needs are not
burdensome. A USB thumb drive is probably the easiest, but you also can
choose a floppy (for a small data file), or a network connection, or a
writeable CD/DVD - or just about any other way of moving files between
computers.

Just Copy your Quicken file to a thumb drive, and plug that into the other
computer, on which Quicken has already been installed. On that computer,
use Windows Explorer to browse to the .qdf file on the thumb drive and
double-click that .qdf file. WinXP should start Quicken with your file
loaded. Then use Quicken's Backup to write your file to the new backup
location of your choice on the new computer's hard drive - just for
safekeeping. And then click File | File Operations | Copy, and copy the
current working file (the one from the thumb drive) to wherever you want
your Quicken working file to be on your new computer (probably NOT the same
folder or even the same HDD as your backup files).

But remember that what Quicken calls "a file" is actually a "fileset" of
related files. If you use Quicken's File operations to backup and copy your
.qdf file, it will automatically transfer the entire fileset. But if you
use Windows tools, you'll have to be sure to include all the related files
(.qel, .qph, ,qtx, etc., - the exact lineup will depend on how YOU have used
Quicken) every time you handle the "file". It does you little good to have
the .qdf file if you don't have all the related ones, too.

You have 3 types of files to deal with:
1. The Quicken application - don't try to "move" these, just install
Quicken again in the new computer. Even if you move these files, the
Quicken installer still needs to write some codes into the new Windows
Registry.
2. Your working data fileset - see above.
3. Your Quicken backup files - Quicken will put its regular weekly
automatic backups in the BACKUP folder that it will create in the parent
folder you choose in 2, above. You can put your voluntary additional
backups wherever you like. You can make such voluntary backup at any time;
Quicken will remind you every 3rd time you exit if you haven't done it
recently. You can adjust this default reminder frequency, and the number of
automatic backups, in Quicken's Edit | Preferences | Quicken Program. At
least one current set of backups should be stored physically separate from
your computer in case of disaster.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Using Quicken Deluxe 2009 and Windows Live Mail in Win7 x64)

> Hello,

> Being new to Quicken from Money, I see lots of things are done

> differently. However, I do wonder if it is possible to transfer the

> "data file" between the two computers on which Quicken has been

> installed. Versions: Quicken Premier 2009 on XP pro. thank you.

Posted by B on July 21, 2009, 5:41 pm

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On 7/21/2009 9:59 AM, R. C. White wrote:

> Hi, Lawrence.

> If you have the hardware, it's easy. And the hardware needs are not

> burdensome. A USB thumb drive is probably the easiest, but you also can

> choose a floppy (for a small data file), or a network connection, or a

> writeable CD/DVD - or just about any other way of moving files between

> computers.

> Just Copy your Quicken file to a thumb drive, and plug that into the

> other computer, on which Quicken has already been installed. On that

> computer, use Windows Explorer to browse to the .qdf file on the thumb

> drive and double-click that .qdf file. WinXP should start Quicken with

> your file loaded. Then use Quicken's Backup to write your file to the

> new backup location of your choice on the new computer's hard drive -

> just for safekeeping. And then click File | File Operations | Copy, and

> copy the current working file (the one from the thumb drive) to wherever

> you want your Quicken working file to be on your new computer (probably

> NOT the same folder or even the same HDD as your backup files).

> But remember that what Quicken calls "a file" is actually a "fileset" of

> related files. If you use Quicken's File operations to backup and copy

> your .qdf file, it will automatically transfer the entire fileset. But

> if you use Windows tools, you'll have to be sure to include all the

> related files (.qel, .qph, ,qtx, etc., - the exact lineup will depend on

> how YOU have used Quicken) every time you handle the "file". It does

> you little good to have the .qdf file if you don't have all the related

> ones, too.

> You have 3 types of files to deal with:

> 1. The Quicken application - don't try to "move" these, just install

> Quicken again in the new computer. Even if you move these files, the

> Quicken installer still needs to write some codes into the new Windows

> Registry.

> 2. Your working data fileset - see above.

> 3. Your Quicken backup files - Quicken will put its regular weekly

> automatic backups in the BACKUP folder that it will create in the

> parent folder you choose in 2, above. You can put your voluntary

> additional backups wherever you like. You can make such voluntary

> backup at any time; Quicken will remind you every 3rd time you exit if

> you haven't done it recently. You can adjust this default reminder

> frequency, and the number of automatic backups, in Quicken's Edit |

> Preferences | Quicken Program. At least one current set of backups

> should be stored physically separate from your computer in case of

> disaster.

> RC

Wouldn't it be simpler to just use Quicken to create a Backup to the USB
drive, and then on the other machine do a Restore from the USB drive?

Posted by R. C. White on July 22, 2009, 9:16 am

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Hi, B.

Use Copy or Backup. Whichever is easier and more familiar to you.

The files written are identical either way. (Long ago, Backup used some
encryption, so Restore was mandatory, but now the files written by Backup
are just a normal set, like Copy. We can just Open the Backup files.) Once
loaded into the new Quicken, you need to be sure that when you Exit, the
current working file is written to your chosen new location so that it will
be loaded every time you start Quicken. You probably don't want to use that
USB stick for your working copy.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Using Quicken Deluxe 2009 and Windows Live Mail in Win7 x64)

> On 7/21/2009 9:59 AM, R. C. White wrote:

>> Hi, Lawrence.

>> If you have the hardware, it's easy. And the hardware needs are not

>> burdensome. A USB thumb drive is probably the easiest, but you also can

>> choose a floppy (for a small data file), or a network connection, or a

>> writeable CD/DVD - or just about any other way of moving files between

>> computers.

>> Just Copy your Quicken file to a thumb drive, and plug that into the

>> other computer, on which Quicken has already been installed. On that

>> computer, use Windows Explorer to browse to the .qdf file on the thumb

>> drive and double-click that .qdf file. WinXP should start Quicken with

>> your file loaded. Then use Quicken's Backup to write your file to the

>> new backup location of your choice on the new computer's hard drive -

>> just for safekeeping. And then click File | File Operations | Copy, and

>> copy the current working file (the one from the thumb drive) to wherever

>> you want your Quicken working file to be on your new computer (probably

>> NOT the same folder or even the same HDD as your backup files).

>> But remember that what Quicken calls "a file" is actually a "fileset" of

>> related files. If you use Quicken's File operations to backup and copy

>> your .qdf file, it will automatically transfer the entire fileset. But

>> if you use Windows tools, you'll have to be sure to include all the

>> related files (.qel, .qph, ,qtx, etc., - the exact lineup will depend on

>> how YOU have used Quicken) every time you handle the "file". It does you

>> little good to have the .qdf file if you don't have all the related ones,

>> too.

>> You have 3 types of files to deal with:

>> 1. The Quicken application - don't try to "move" these, just install

>> Quicken again in the new computer. Even if you move these files, the

>> Quicken installer still needs to write some codes into the new Windows

>> Registry.

>> 2. Your working data fileset - see above.

>> 3. Your Quicken backup files - Quicken will put its regular weekly

>> automatic backups in the BACKUP folder that it will create in the parent

>> folder you choose in 2, above. You can put your voluntary additional

>> backups wherever you like. You can make such voluntary backup at any

>> time; Quicken will remind you every 3rd time you exit if you haven't done

>> it recently. You can adjust this default reminder frequency, and the

>> number of automatic backups, in Quicken's Edit | Preferences | Quicken

>> Program. At least one current set of backups should be stored physically

>> separate from your computer in case of disaster.

>> RC

> Wouldn't it be simpler to just use Quicken to create a Backup to the USB

> drive, and then on the other machine do a Restore from the USB drive?

Posted by John Pollard on July 22, 2009, 9:56 am

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R. C. White wrote:

> Hi, B.

> Use Copy or Backup. Whichever is easier and more familiar to you.

> The files written are identical either way. (Long ago, Backup used

> some encryption, so Restore was mandatory, but now the files written

> by Backup are just a normal set, like Copy. We can just Open the

> Backup files.) Once loaded into the new Quicken, you need to be sure

> that when you Exit, the current working file is written to your

> chosen new location so that it will be loaded every time you start

> Quicken. You probably don't want to use that USB stick for your

> working copy.

I think Copy and Backup "should" produce logically exact duplicates, but
may not produce physically exact duplicates.

I do know that the output of a Copy can have a different Windows "size"
than the original; something which I think we usually attribute to Quicken
attempting to clean up some logically deleted data, that has not been
physically deleted.

One reason to favor a Backup over a Copy is, in my experience, a Backup
takes considerably less time.

--

John Pollard