Validation

Posted by DGD on September 4, 2009, 7:08 pm

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What is the purpose of file validation and super validation? What are
the risks of doing this to one's Quicken files? I use Quicken H&B
2009 Cdn version.

Thanks

Doug

Posted by John Pollard on September 4, 2009, 8:12 pm

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DGD wrote:

> What is the purpose of file validation and super validation? What are

> the risks of doing this to one's Quicken files? I use Quicken H&B

> 2009 Cdn version.

The purposes are to: find, and hopefully fix, file corruption ... when it
exists.

It is not possible to guarantee that either goal will be achieved. Nor is
it possible to guarantee that a Validate will not create a problem of its
own. [Though I believe it is not likely.]

There is zero risk, if you Validate a Copy of your Quicken data ... and
revert to the file from which the (then) Validated Copy was made.

And, in my opinion, there is very little risk in using a Validated Copy of
your Quicken data. But I believe that no one - not even anyone at
Intuit - could give you an absolute guarantee that a Validate would never
create any problem, or that you would be able to determine that there was
a problem.

In my opinion: if a Validated Quicken Copy appears to be viable; it's a
better bet than a file that didn't appear to be viable before the
Validation.

And having a good backup strategy will help reduce the odds in your favor
even further.

--

John Pollard

Posted by Stubby on September 5, 2009, 9:15 am

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> DGD wrote:

> > What is the purpose of file validation and super validation? =A0What ar=

> > the risks of doing this to one's Quicken files? =A0I use Quicken H&B

> > 2009 Cdn version.

> The purposes are to: find, and hopefully fix, file corruption ... when it

> exists.

> It is not possible to guarantee that either goal will be achieved. =A0Nor=

> it possible to guarantee that a Validate will not create a problem of its

> own. =A0[Though I believe it is not likely.]

> There is zero risk, if you Validate a Copy of your Quicken data ... and

> revert to the file from which the (then) Validated Copy was made.

> And, in my opinion, there is very little risk in using a Validated Copy o=

> your Quicken data. =A0But I believe that no one - not even anyone at

> Intuit - could give you an absolute guarantee that a Validate would never

> create any problem, or that you would be able to determine that there was

> a problem.

> In my opinion: if a Validated Quicken Copy appears to be viable; it's a

> better bet than a file that didn't appear to be viable before the

> Validation.

> And having a good backup strategy will help reduce the odds in your favor

> even further.

> --

> John Pollard

I not sure but I believe "validate" just checks the consistency of the
items in the file. "Super validate" rebuilds the file from the
various records.

Posted by John Pollard on September 5, 2009, 9:55 am

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Stubby wrote:

>> DGD wrote:

>>> What is the purpose of file validation and super validation? What

>>> are the risks of doing this to one's Quicken files? I use Quicken

>>> H&B 2009 Cdn version.

>> The purposes are to: find, and hopefully fix, file corruption ...

>> when it exists.

>> It is not possible to guarantee that either goal will be achieved.

>> Nor is it possible to guarantee that a Validate will not create a

>> problem of its own. [Though I believe it is not likely.]

>> There is zero risk, if you Validate a Copy of your Quicken data ...

>> and revert to the file from which the (then) Validated Copy was made.

>> And, in my opinion, there is very little risk in using a Validated

>> Copy of your Quicken data. But I believe that no one - not even

>> anyone at

>> Intuit - could give you an absolute guarantee that a Validate would

>> never create any problem, or that you would be able to determine

>> that there was a problem.

>> In my opinion: if a Validated Quicken Copy appears to be viable;

>> it's a better bet than a file that didn't appear to be viable before

>> the Validation.

>> And having a good backup strategy will help reduce the odds in your

>> favor even further.

> I not sure but I believe "validate" just checks the consistency of the

> items in the file. "Super validate" rebuilds the file from the

> various records.

Just to clarify: Validate can do more than just "check" for problems; it
can, and many times does, fix problems. But a super-validate will
sometimes make more fixes than a plain validate. I don't know the exact
conditions that cause that to be true.

--

John Pollard

Posted by Han on September 5, 2009, 9:59 am

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> Stubby wrote:

>>> DGD wrote:

>>>> What is the purpose of file validation and super validation? What

>>>> are the risks of doing this to one's Quicken files? I use Quicken

>>>> H&B 2009 Cdn version.

>>>

>>> The purposes are to: find, and hopefully fix, file corruption ...

>>> when it exists.

>>>

>>> It is not possible to guarantee that either goal will be achieved.

>>> Nor is it possible to guarantee that a Validate will not create a

>>> problem of its own. [Though I believe it is not likely.]

>>>

>>> There is zero risk, if you Validate a Copy of your Quicken data ...

>>> and revert to the file from which the (then) Validated Copy was

>>> made.

>>>

>>> And, in my opinion, there is very little risk in using a Validated

>>> Copy of your Quicken data. But I believe that no one - not even

>>> anyone at

>>> Intuit - could give you an absolute guarantee that a Validate would

>>> never create any problem, or that you would be able to determine

>>> that there was a problem.

>>>

>>> In my opinion: if a Validated Quicken Copy appears to be viable;

>>> it's a better bet than a file that didn't appear to be viable before

>>> the Validation.

>>>

>>> And having a good backup strategy will help reduce the odds in your

>>> favor even further.

>> I not sure but I believe "validate" just checks the consistency of

>> the items in the file. "Super validate" rebuilds the file from the

>> various records.

> Just to clarify: Validate can do more than just "check" for problems;

> it can, and many times does, fix problems. But a super-validate will

> sometimes make more fixes than a plain validate. I don't know the

> exact conditions that cause that to be true.

Isn't the simplest "validate" to copy the file set to a file with a new
name? That should rebuild the indexes and clear up used space. Then if
there are still problems, use validate on the copy. If that isn't good
enough, supervalidate. Of course, backups are your friends ...

--
Best regards
Han
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