Quicken for Mac 2007: ..can't update data file on quitting.

Mark439

Quicken for Mac 2007.    Mac OS 10.13.2.    

On quitting,  get " ... Q can't automatcally update data file copy. "

I could not complete reindexing, rebuilding data file via "Save a Copy"  or the  QIF export thing.  
Used this for 17 years, MUCH data.   Says it " ...can't erase partial files..."  and does not complete rebuild.    Program still works well.   Sometimes the " day change" amount in the P. window doesn't show up.   Use it mostly for investment, personal household bills, checkbook, etc.

Willing to go to new version if current files can be used, moved, etc.   Suggestions ??   What version ???   Thanks, 

..  Mark

Quicken Harold

Hi Mark.. 

You can definitely go to a newer version of Quicken, the latest is 2018 for the Mac. It will move your current transactions from your 2007 version over to 2018 automatically. 

Hope this helps.

~ Quicken Harold.

jacobs

Mark, there is a known problem with automatic backups not working with Quicken 2007 for users who have upgraded to macOS 10.13.x and whose hard drive was updated to Apple's new APFS hard drive format as part of that upgrade. (Click on your hard drive icon in the Finder and select File > Get Info to see if your drive format is Mac OS Extended or APFS.) I'm not sure why you can't complete re-indexing, though; I'm not sure if that's related.

Assuming your hard drive was converted to APFS, you should turn OFF Quicken 2007's automatic file backup function. In Quicken, go to Quicken 2007 > Preferences, click on File Backup at the bottom of the list on the left size, un-check the "Automatically back up the data file to disk" box, and click Save. (Alternatively, if you have an external drive which was not converted to APFS format, you could move your Quicken data file to that drive, and continue to use automatic backup.)

After turning off Quicken's automatic backup, you now need to insure that you regularly make backups. This can be done in several ways -- and I recommend doing it *multiple* ways because, as you note, you have many years of valuable data in your file that you want to try to protect from corruption or loss. The simplest thing is to, in the Finder, click on your Quicken data file and Duplicate it. I like to rename the duplicate file with a date (e.g. "Quicken 2017-12-26" or something like that) and move it to a folder for Quicken backups. Periodically, I throw out some older ones, but I know I have multiple generations of backups going back several years in case some data corruption shows up and I need to find a version before the data corruption occurred.

If your Mac doesn't have a hard drive attached to use Apple's built-in Time Machine for automatic backups of all your data, I highly recommend this. An external hard drive costs about $100, plus or minus, depending on capacity, and once you turn it on and let it do the initial backup, backups are then automatic every hour. Even if you have a laptop computer, it's worth having a Time Machine hard drive you plug in periodically to allow it to back up your Mac. 

Back to the inability to re-index: that's troubling, since Quicken 2007 is notorious for minor file corruption that re-indexing can typically resolve. I would try moving a copy of your data file onto a non-APFS drive and then trying again to re-index. (If you don't have an additional hard drive, do you have a flash drive you can pop in and try this with?) My concern is that if you've got a database corruption problem you can't fix in Quicken 2007, it's possible -- not certain, just possible -- you'd have problems trying to import the data file into the modern Quicken (aka Quicken 2018) if you purchased it.

Mark439

Jacobs, thank you for your very helpful and complete reply.    I have followed your "simplest thing" solution.    Turned off auto backup, duplicated last data file and dated it.   Yes, my MacBook drive is APFS format.    I am not a "superuser", so I could go with the manual backup simplest.   

I back up everything every Friday manually with Carbon Copy Cloner, for years;   started when it was shareware !      Felt my usage does not warrant Time Machine which is awkward with a laptop.  ?   But I don't know how Time Machine works.    Could get another external, etc.

I found that the Backup Mac OS partition on my external drive, i.e., lightweight OWC Express USB 3.0 SSD enclosure, is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  (Not permanently connected, of course.  

This partition is bootable, so I could check, use it to check Q operation when booted in this partition.    (The Bootcamp Windows 10 partition is not bootable yet.   I did the Windows partition for a special function;  not using it yet.)

 Any suggestions how I might use this partition for this problem?

Now, yes, what worries me is:   can I import all my (years) of data into Quicken 2018 ??   Is there a way to check before buying it.?    If it didn't import my data, well, I could do it on the backup partition and then move the file back to the internal drive ??    Or, ........?    Willing to go to the new version, if it will go willingly.    Pretty sure I have some DB problem.  ??   

Thanks for any suggestions.    ... Mark

Unknown

Mark said:

Jacobs, thank you for your very helpful and complete reply.    I have followed your "simplest thing" solution.    Turned off auto backup, duplicated last data file and dated it.   Yes, my MacBook drive is APFS format.    I am not a "superuser", so I could go with the manual backup simplest.   

I back up everything every Friday manually with Carbon Copy Cloner, for years;   started when it was shareware !      Felt my usage does not warrant Time Machine which is awkward with a laptop.  ?   But I don't know how Time Machine works.    Could get another external, etc.

I found that the Backup Mac OS partition on my external drive, i.e., lightweight OWC Express USB 3.0 SSD enclosure, is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  (Not permanently connected, of course.  

This partition is bootable, so I could check, use it to check Q operation when booted in this partition.    (The Bootcamp Windows 10 partition is not bootable yet.   I did the Windows partition for a special function;  not using it yet.)

 Any suggestions how I might use this partition for this problem?

Now, yes, what worries me is:   can I import all my (years) of data into Quicken 2018 ??   Is there a way to check before buying it.?    If it didn't import my data, well, I could do it on the backup partition and then move the file back to the internal drive ??    Or, ........?    Willing to go to the new version, if it will go willingly.    Pretty sure I have some DB problem.  ??   

Thanks for any suggestions.    ... Mark

Quicken subscription (2018) comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.

If you find that it doesn't import your data to your specifications, contact Quicken Support at www.quicken.com/support and ask for a refund.

There is no guarantee that your data will import 100%, although it should.  And there is no trial version of any Quicken product.

jacobs

Mark said:

Jacobs, thank you for your very helpful and complete reply.    I have followed your "simplest thing" solution.    Turned off auto backup, duplicated last data file and dated it.   Yes, my MacBook drive is APFS format.    I am not a "superuser", so I could go with the manual backup simplest.   

I back up everything every Friday manually with Carbon Copy Cloner, for years;   started when it was shareware !      Felt my usage does not warrant Time Machine which is awkward with a laptop.  ?   But I don't know how Time Machine works.    Could get another external, etc.

I found that the Backup Mac OS partition on my external drive, i.e., lightweight OWC Express USB 3.0 SSD enclosure, is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  (Not permanently connected, of course.  

This partition is bootable, so I could check, use it to check Q operation when booted in this partition.    (The Bootcamp Windows 10 partition is not bootable yet.   I did the Windows partition for a special function;  not using it yet.)

 Any suggestions how I might use this partition for this problem?

Now, yes, what worries me is:   can I import all my (years) of data into Quicken 2018 ??   Is there a way to check before buying it.?    If it didn't import my data, well, I could do it on the backup partition and then move the file back to the internal drive ??    Or, ........?    Willing to go to the new version, if it will go willingly.    Pretty sure I have some DB problem.  ??   

Thanks for any suggestions.    ... Mark

Mark,

Carbon Copy Cloner is a fine option for full-disk backups. I use SuperDuper, which is a similar full-drive backup program, to do periodic backups. I rotate between two hard drives, taking one to my office so I have one off-site in the event of a fire or other home catastrophe.

That said, backups can be problematic, too. About two years ago, I have a problem with the hard drive in my MacBook Pro. (Long story short: after much frustration and trial-and-error, it turned out to be the thin, flat cable connecting the drive to the motherboard which was flaky, but to get to that conclusion, I had already replaced the hard drive.) When I went to restore from my backup to a replacement hard drive, SuperDuper got part-way through the restore and failed with a read error from my backups hard disk. I tried again with my other SuperDuper hard drive and, to my horror, got a similar error. After exchanging notes with the programmer, his response boiled down to: they're hard drives, and they are prone to failing in many small ways before they fail catastrophically. When I asked how I could get a backup that was absolutely reliable, he told me he had 7 or 8 different forms of backup for his personal data! (I was bailed out by my Time Machine backup, which restored nearly everything correctly.)

So my suggestion is that you can't have too many backups. If you have one external drive you use for CCC, you might some day find -- at the point you need it -- that it doesn't fully restore correctly. Since you're used to plugging in  a hard drive to do your CC backup weekly, maybe consider getting another hard drive and plugging it in the same day as a Time Machine Backup. It couldn't be simpler; when you first plug it in to the Mac, it will ask if you want to use it as a Time Machine backup. Say yes, and Time Machine does the rest. The first time might take a number of hours to back-up, but thereafter it will be fairly quick. Just unmount the disk before unplugging the drive; the new time you plug it in, it will automatically begin backing up within a few minutes. (Another option is an online backup service, like Backblaze, which will deliver more continual backup service without manual intervention, but which will cost more over time. Or, if you don't have much critical data to back up, you might just get a flash drive and manually copy your Quicken data file and any other critical data to it.) 

It's more work, to be sure, and might cost $80-$100 for another OWC drive. The question to ask is: if your hard disk or MacBook Pro died for any reason, and your CCC backup had any problem restoring all your data, how critical would it be to you? Is is worth $100 for a second layer of security? Some might say no; for me, the answer is yes.

Oh, to your other question: you could try moving your Quicken data file to the Mac OS Extended (HFS+)-formatted partition of your external drive. By most reports, Quicken 2007's auto-backup will now work fine. But the downside is that you'd need to attach your external drive every time you wanted to use Quicken, so this may not be a practical solution for you.

Mark439

Thanks again.    Believe I will go the Time Machine alternative.  

Thanks also to B Hawks.      Guess I will just have to try Q 2018.    See what happens. .... Mark

Unknown

Mark said:

Thanks again.    Believe I will go the Time Machine alternative.  

Thanks also to B Hawks.      Guess I will just have to try Q 2018.    See what happens. .... Mark

And on that vein of backups...yes, I backup my Quicken Mac (and Quicken Windows, for that matter) every day.  I keep 10 copies of backups of my Quicken Mac data.

But i also copy that data to Dropbox, a cloud based drive.  I have one folder for each day of the week, and download each day to there...so I have seven backups "in the cloud".

The reasoning?  What if there's a fire?  A flood?  Hurricane? Tornado? Theft?  Any tragedy where my computer is not available?

After Hurricane Harvey, there were Quicken users wanting to know how they could get their data because their homes were destroyed and/or flooded out.  Well, the answer is "they couldn't".

So, I backup Quicken to my hard drive.  I have Time Machine backup my MacBook.  And I backup to Dropbox.

And...just for good measure...I have Quicken 2017 .dmg file backed up to Dropbox too.

I know now that I can access my data and my Quicken software file from anywhere...it's offsite and in the Cloud.  I'd just need to purchase a new Mac and away I'd go.

Mark439

Thank you.    Good information there.    Making me rethink the thing.   Will get a drive for Time Machine....       Just wanted to keep things simple ....     Dropbox ??      OK,  thanks to both of you.

Unknown

Mark said:

Thank you.    Good information there.    Making me rethink the thing.   Will get a drive for Time Machine....       Just wanted to keep things simple ....     Dropbox ??      OK,  thanks to both of you.

You can get Dropbox for free.  Or you can use your iCloud drive.  Or any other "cloud" storage service.

The important thing is to have something offsite in case of a disaster.  

jacobs

Mark said:

Thank you.    Good information there.    Making me rethink the thing.   Will get a drive for Time Machine....       Just wanted to keep things simple ....     Dropbox ??      OK,  thanks to both of you.

But with cloud storage like iCloud or Dropbox, you need to be careful with Quicken. It is NOT designed to have the live data file you're using stored on one of these cloud services; you risk data corruption if you do. But it is fine to make backups (via the app, or manually via the Finder) and put them on cloud storage -- but this requires manual intervention to make & move the backups to a location the cloud service will copy them.

jacobs

Mark said:

Thanks again.    Believe I will go the Time Machine alternative.  

Thanks also to B Hawks.      Guess I will just have to try Q 2018.    See what happens. .... Mark

One small suggestion to add to your otherwise great backup strategies: keep something more than a week's worth of backups. Why? Sometimes a problem crops up that it turns out originated more than a week ago. This could be a program glitch, a computer glitch, or a user glitch. (For instance, Quicken makes it too easy, in my opinion, to accidentally delete a lot of transactions -- something you might not notice in a week, or even a month.) So I'd add to your strategy saving a backup copy on the first of last day or each month (or just periodically, when the thought occurs to you) and keeping those around for a couple years before deleting them. Time Machine may have you covered if you need to go back in time a ways, but depending on the amount of data on your Mac's hard drive and the size of your TM drive, older files may be getting deleted faster than you think. So for someone as disciplined about backups as you are, I'd just add doing a (roughly) monthly backup and saving them for awhile.

Mark439

Thanks again for all this info.   I do have Dropbox;  it's in the Public Folder, empty and right now I have no idea how to put it to good use.   If it involves file sharing ports open, that brings a security concern, doesn't it ?   I have been wary of cloud storage and file sharing.  ??

Now tell me if this idea will work:   I can boot up from my Backup Mac OS drive (Mac OS Extended and Journaled), run Quicken, very likely rebuild/reindex the live data file.  ??   Then move that repaired file back to my internal drive in the Quicken Backup Folder.    And, presto, all is fixed !   Right ?           ....... Yes, I'm LOL !!    This avoids the APFS thingy.     But if the index, whatever, is too damaged, it would have the same result.  ??

The thing is that I know I have myself deleted some files over the years.   I think this is why the index is messed up.   I got an error message like:   " ... unable to completely erase partially deleted files .. ".  And that's where it stops.  ( There was another error also.)   Or, is the reindexing supposed to fix something like that ??

I do have archived, the data files going back to 2003 !   Each year in a folder.   Are these of any use?  I would have to know when the problem first occurred, or some other damn thing, I think.

Thanks to all,  .....   Mark

smayer97

Going back to your original issue, you do not have to boot up from a non-APFS formatted drive to make QM2007 happy...all you need is to store the main data file AND the backups onto a non-APFS formatted partition; it does not even have to be a separate drive. 

Using Disk Utility that comes with MacOS you can easily create a small partition on an internal drive large enough to hold all copies of your data file. 

You can read more details in this thread:
Is Quicken for Mac 2007 (QM2007) Compatible with High Sierra (macOS 10.13)?

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Mark439

Thanks for the very helpful info.    

Currently, MacBook Pro (late 2013, 13" retina) has the Apple 128GB SSD with 60GB free.    Suppose I eventually get a larger internal ?   What size partition do you recommend in this context ?   I am not a "power/super user" !

Just not clear on how the program will work with the non-APFS partition.   Will Q run in the non-APFS partition ?

Once established, will Q launch from and auto-save file copy back to the non-APFS partition, or, must i launch and save manually within it ?    I assume the latter is true.      I am using the date as file name;  do I need to place the extension myself ?

Thanks,  .. Mark

smayer97

Mark said:

Thanks for the very helpful info.    

Currently, MacBook Pro (late 2013, 13" retina) has the Apple 128GB SSD with 60GB free.    Suppose I eventually get a larger internal ?   What size partition do you recommend in this context ?   I am not a "power/super user" !

Just not clear on how the program will work with the non-APFS partition.   Will Q run in the non-APFS partition ?

Once established, will Q launch from and auto-save file copy back to the non-APFS partition, or, must i launch and save manually within it ?    I assume the latter is true.      I am using the date as file name;  do I need to place the extension myself ?

Thanks,  .. Mark

Using a separate partition acts just like a separate physical drive. The only difference is that it is located on the same physical drive, just separated. In other words, if you have 2 partitions, your drive is separated into 2 volumes or virtual drives.

With the extra non-APFS partition (actually a HFS+ partition), you only need to store your data file on that partition, and change your QM2007 preferences to save your backups on the same partition. You can continue to have the QM2007 app in the Applications folder on your boot drive/partition.

You do not have to worry about extensions...let Quicken handle that. Just make sure the data file name is not longer than 32 chars (including the extension).

Once you save the data file on the HFS+ partition, you can either double-click the data file the first time or select File>Open File... from within QM2007 and select the data file located on the new partition. After you close Quicken, it will remember where you stored it and will know where to find it and open it from. So simply opening QM2007 after that will automatically open the file from its new location.

As for the size of the partition, it simply needs to be big enough to store your data file plus the number of backup copies you have set in QM2007 preferences (max is 10), plus some breathing room for growth. The data file does not typically grow very fast unless you download a lot of security prices and transactions. So you will have to gauge that part for yourself.

For example, if your data file is 50 MB and you have 10 backup copies, you will need a minimum of 50MB x 11 (1 + 10) or 550MB to start. Just remember that for each 1 MB growth in the data file, you need 11 MB of space on the new partition. So if your data file were to grow from 50 MB to 100 MB, you would need 11 times that or 1,100MB or 1.1 GB. So your data file would need to double before needing over 1 GB of space. Note that if you ever run out of space, you can simply increase the size of your partition with Disk Utility, as long as you still have room on your drive.

Always be sure to have backups before doing anything this significant!

Once you have this set up, you can start to troubleshoot your data file with re-indexing and Save a Copy to hopefully narrow down your problem.

Let us know how it goes.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Mark439

Terrific explanation !    I see my Q data files are now routinely about 5 MB each, so, based on my usage, 5 stock/bond quotes every Friday, I can use the drive I have for some time, I think.  Say, 5 backup copies.

For my weekly CCC full drive backup, I assume I would have to create another small partition in the Mac OS Backup partition external drive ( Mac OS Extended ) and instruct CCC to back this up in a separate operation.  ?   Or can it copy the new partition on the internal drive ?    It is normally directed to the Mac OS Backup partition on the external drive ( which is much larger ).   ( The other is a Windows 10 partition on another MacBook Pro;  not using it yet. )

And how must a Time Machine drive be partitioned / setup to get all of this?

But I see how this works now.    I had the idea that the whole program had to be on the same drive/partition for it to work.    As I now understand it, once launched, the data file just finds the program wherever it is.  ?    Didn't know it could do that.    Let me know what I'm missing ......

Thanks to all of you!    I will report on my decisions and progress, and questions. .....   Mark

smayer97

Mark said:

Terrific explanation !    I see my Q data files are now routinely about 5 MB each, so, based on my usage, 5 stock/bond quotes every Friday, I can use the drive I have for some time, I think.  Say, 5 backup copies.

For my weekly CCC full drive backup, I assume I would have to create another small partition in the Mac OS Backup partition external drive ( Mac OS Extended ) and instruct CCC to back this up in a separate operation.  ?   Or can it copy the new partition on the internal drive ?    It is normally directed to the Mac OS Backup partition on the external drive ( which is much larger ).   ( The other is a Windows 10 partition on another MacBook Pro;  not using it yet. )

And how must a Time Machine drive be partitioned / setup to get all of this?

But I see how this works now.    I had the idea that the whole program had to be on the same drive/partition for it to work.    As I now understand it, once launched, the data file just finds the program wherever it is.  ?    Didn't know it could do that.    Let me know what I'm missing ......

Thanks to all of you!    I will report on my decisions and progress, and questions. .....   Mark

That is right...Mac OS simply finds the corresponding app for the file you are trying to open. Been that way since the beginning (1984).

As for backups, that is a different set of questions...I'm not sure what verison of CCC you are using but in my old version (3.4.7), it only backs up one volume/partition at a time, so for that I have to create separate Scheduled tasks BUT depending on what your type of backup, in some cases you can have the destination the same for more than one backup.

As for TM, it automatically backup multiple drives/partitions at the same time onto one volume, keeping track of each original source. Though you can tweak it, the default settings are pretty straightforward.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Mark439

I have latest version 5.0.5.    Will find out what it can do.     Thanks,   Mark

smayer97

Mark said:

I have latest version 5.0.5.    Will find out what it can do.     Thanks,   Mark

What is v5.0.5?  

Oops...you mean CCC v5.0.5. Ok.

Mark439

My version of CCC.    They update quite frequently.

Mark439

OK.   Mission accomplished, more or less.    I was able to complete reindexing the file running Q from my Backup Mac OS drive  (Extended).   

Made a small partition in the internal drive, moved data files to it, and it's running fine from there.   But ...... 

I guess I misunderstood.     I can't get it to make multiple copies of the live data file.   I understood it would do that now in the older format.  ??   

I need to know what this line means, from Q Preferences:    the line after the checkmark line ....

"Automatically backup every   n   times."     (This not good Engish!)    Anyway, I can't get it to make multiple backups of the live file !!    I thought that was the purpose of doing the partition in the older format.   ??     I set it to keep 7 data files.

What did I miss ??   ......Mark

smayer97

Mark said:

OK.   Mission accomplished, more or less.    I was able to complete reindexing the file running Q from my Backup Mac OS drive  (Extended).   

Made a small partition in the internal drive, moved data files to it, and it's running fine from there.   But ...... 

I guess I misunderstood.     I can't get it to make multiple copies of the live data file.   I understood it would do that now in the older format.  ??   

I need to know what this line means, from Q Preferences:    the line after the checkmark line ....

"Automatically backup every   n   times."     (This not good Engish!)    Anyway, I can't get it to make multiple backups of the live file !!    I thought that was the purpose of doing the partition in the older format.   ??     I set it to keep 7 data files.

What did I miss ??   ......Mark

What format is the small partition on the internal drive? And is there enough room to be able to save multiple copies (how large is your data file and how large is your partition)?

Mark439

Hi,  

Partition is 6 GB, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), data files, including Archived from 2003 is 164 MB.    Seems plenty of room ..?      Other choices matter -- case sensitive, etc. ?    This one not case-sensitive.

It's working fine.     Just not clear on setting the # of copies.     Where exactly do I set the # of data files to be saved ?    It's not obvious to me in preferences.    It's not worded that way.  ?

Mark

smayer97

Mark said:

Hi,  

Partition is 6 GB, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), data files, including Archived from 2003 is 164 MB.    Seems plenty of room ..?      Other choices matter -- case sensitive, etc. ?    This one not case-sensitive.

It's working fine.     Just not clear on setting the # of copies.     Where exactly do I set the # of data files to be saved ?    It's not obvious to me in preferences.    It's not worded that way.  ?

Mark

Settings 

• "Automatically backup every # times" is when you want to trigger a backup...if set to 7 = open/close, open/close... 7 times BEFORE a backup occurs; if you want it every time, set =1. 
• "Keep the last # backup files" is the one that sets the max # files to keep.
• And finally, "Store Backup Files In" sets the location of where to store the backups, which needs to be on the HFS+ partition.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Mark439

Mark said:

Hi,  

Partition is 6 GB, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), data files, including Archived from 2003 is 164 MB.    Seems plenty of room ..?      Other choices matter -- case sensitive, etc. ?    This one not case-sensitive.

It's working fine.     Just not clear on setting the # of copies.     Where exactly do I set the # of data files to be saved ?    It's not obvious to me in preferences.    It's not worded that way.  ?

Mark

OK.   That's how I have now interpreted preferences.    Then there is no way to set it to make multiple copies of the live file on quitting the program.    I thought I remembered it doing that long time back.     Beats me why anyone would not want to make a back up every time.    

Also, there is this, FYI:     When it was running in the APFS, on quitting, it would show a small window informing " ... Quicken was not able to automatically back up your data file."     BUT ..  it did make ONE copy of the live file, contrary to the warning window.   The window was not correct.  Otherwise I could not have kept running it  in APFS ....  I now see that I interpreted all this to mean that it could not automatically make a SECOND COPY of the live file.

Sorry about this rambling,   Just trying to understand where I got mixed up.   Also, the creation of the 6GB partition doesn't seem right to me.   But I have little experience in partitioning.    There is an "untitled" partition which takes storage away from the boot partition.    I think I need to delete this or maybe redo the partitioning again.   The new 6GB partition is not in a "container" -- Disk Utility.   

Well, I have learned more anyway.    Thanks, Mark

smayer97

Mark said:

Hi,  

Partition is 6 GB, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), data files, including Archived from 2003 is 164 MB.    Seems plenty of room ..?      Other choices matter -- case sensitive, etc. ?    This one not case-sensitive.

It's working fine.     Just not clear on setting the # of copies.     Where exactly do I set the # of data files to be saved ?    It's not obvious to me in preferences.    It's not worded that way.  ?

Mark

Correct...the partition is not a container. It separates a "part" of the drive to be used distinct from another partition, but on the same physical drive. The Mac OS sees them as separate drives or volumes. 

@ 164MB you need a min of 1.312 GB to store 1+7 files. Depending on how fast the data file grows, e.g. it doubles in one year, you will need double that total within one year. So you will have to gauge what you need. BUT you can always grow the partition after the fact too.

You can also try the container approach by creating a disk IMAGE using Disk Utility to see if that suits you better. But I think one user tried that and was not successful with backups even with HFS+ formatting...YMMV so if you have the time to experiment, try it out and report back...

Whatever route you take, do try re-indexing your main data file when it is on the new partition to confirm that it will work. I believe it should but you do not want to find out that it does not when you really need it. 

Report back any findings for all to learn something new or confirm what has already been found out.

Mark439

Good for me, helpful info.   Will do.    Thank you.

Now, I need help getting the partitioning procedure done right.    I am prepared to wipe internal, reclone, and redo partition.    I like the partition method.   But it didn't end up right.

Here's what happens:   The result is three partitions when I only want two, the small Mac HFS+ and the rest of the internal boot drive.   The third one is a container with an "untitled" volume;  found I can delete the volume but not the container.   Problem:   This container disk 1 (APFS) takes away 40+GB from the internal boot drive free space.   Now the internal boot has only 14GB free when it should have about 53 free.    You get the idea.

So, what is the procedure to get to only 2 partitions, the 6GB or so HFS+ and all the rest remaining together with the internal boot free space.  ?    

 Hope this clear.    Process seems to divide the free space into a container I don't want as it creates the 6GB partition I want.    Maybe this is not possible the way partitioning is set up ??       Partitioning failed twice;  I don't know why, before it made the  6GB.     So I figure I didn't do the thing correctly.         Please advise.

smayer97

Mark said:

Good for me, helpful info.   Will do.    Thank you.

Now, I need help getting the partitioning procedure done right.    I am prepared to wipe internal, reclone, and redo partition.    I like the partition method.   But it didn't end up right.

Here's what happens:   The result is three partitions when I only want two, the small Mac HFS+ and the rest of the internal boot drive.   The third one is a container with an "untitled" volume;  found I can delete the volume but not the container.   Problem:   This container disk 1 (APFS) takes away 40+GB from the internal boot drive free space.   Now the internal boot has only 14GB free when it should have about 53 free.    You get the idea.

So, what is the procedure to get to only 2 partitions, the 6GB or so HFS+ and all the rest remaining together with the internal boot free space.  ?    

 Hope this clear.    Process seems to divide the free space into a container I don't want as it creates the 6GB partition I want.    Maybe this is not possible the way partitioning is set up ??       Partitioning failed twice;  I don't know why, before it made the  6GB.     So I figure I didn't do the thing correctly.         Please advise.

I'd have to see your partition map to even try to guess at what the issue is.

Mark439

Yes, I know.    I reverted to the original map.    Wiped the internal drive and restored it with CCC Backup external.     Had to work it out, but got it back to square one.    The original issue was that I began with a wrong assumption.    Not sure now that I need the partition method.     Considering a  1TB TM drive for more backup.       Thanks much.

smayer97

Mark said:

Yes, I know.    I reverted to the original map.    Wiped the internal drive and restored it with CCC Backup external.     Had to work it out, but got it back to square one.    The original issue was that I began with a wrong assumption.    Not sure now that I need the partition method.     Considering a  1TB TM drive for more backup.       Thanks much.

np