Back-up discrepancy with new Encrypted version just updated to

Unknown

Hi, My Quicken2016 for Mac version has recently done an update to a version with encryption. All has gone well restarting with my existing Quicken back-up file. But after updating my banking and saving a new Back-up I noticed that the new back-up file in considerably smaller than my file before the update, 3.9 instead of 8.3. I am worried that if I have call to go back to one of the new files at a later date , after a problem!!! I would find I didn't have all my entries as it may not have saved them all. Can anyone explain the discrepancy?

jacobs

I can't say definitively, but I do know that the developers have made changes over time to not store some duplicated data in the Quicken data file. For instance, Quicken used to always keep a duplicate copy of your data file, within the data file, prior to each software update which changed the database structure. But that extra copy was not meant to be accessible by end users, so they decided it was a mistake to be bloating the data file to maintain it. (Now, Quicken does an automatic backup, to your designated backup folder, before installing updates.) So your data file could have been double its true size. That would explain your backups now being roughly half the size as before. I think this was part of the version 3.7 update -- the one prior to the latest 3.8 update -- but since I don't use Quicken 2016 regularly anymore, I'm not positive which update contained this change.

What you can do to satisfy yourself that your backups are sound it to test one. (This is a good strategy we all should do periodically, but most of us probably don't.) First, make a COPY of a recent backup -- never open the backup file itself, only a copy. Then open the backup copy by either double-clicking on it or dragging it over the Quicken icon in your dock. then explore the data: do all your account balances look correct? Run a few reports, poke around; scroll from the beginning to end of several account registers to make sure it goes back as far as you believe it should. If everything looks okay, then chances are, it is. Now, you want to close the backup copy and to re-open your live data file, again by double clicking it or dragging it over the Quicken app icon in your dock. Be sure you do this, and that the filename at the top of the screen shows your live data and not the backup -- you don't want to move forward entering data into the backup. You can also now trash the copy of the backup that you opened for testing purposes so it isn't hanging around and causing you confusion sometime in the future.

Unknown

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I knew i could go into preferences and decline the encryption. So i did this and tried another backup. This resulted in a file of its usual size. So i am reasonably happy its a compressed file in the encrypted version. I re instated the encryption and hopefully all will be well. I may keep a full sized file occasionally somewhere just incase.


Thanks again.

Unknown

jacobs said:

I can't say definitively, but I do know that the developers have made changes over time to not store some duplicated data in the Quicken data file. For instance, Quicken used to always keep a duplicate copy of your data file, within the data file, prior to each software update which changed the database structure. But that extra copy was not meant to be accessible by end users, so they decided it was a mistake to be bloating the data file to maintain it. (Now, Quicken does an automatic backup, to your designated backup folder, before installing updates.) So your data file could have been double its true size. That would explain your backups now being roughly half the size as before. I think this was part of the version 3.7 update -- the one prior to the latest 3.8 update -- but since I don't use Quicken 2016 regularly anymore, I'm not positive which update contained this change.

What you can do to satisfy yourself that your backups are sound it to test one. (This is a good strategy we all should do periodically, but most of us probably don't.) First, make a COPY of a recent backup -- never open the backup file itself, only a copy. Then open the backup copy by either double-clicking on it or dragging it over the Quicken icon in your dock. then explore the data: do all your account balances look correct? Run a few reports, poke around; scroll from the beginning to end of several account registers to make sure it goes back as far as you believe it should. If everything looks okay, then chances are, it is. Now, you want to close the backup copy and to re-open your live data file, again by double clicking it or dragging it over the Quicken app icon in your dock. Be sure you do this, and that the filename at the top of the screen shows your live data and not the backup -- you don't want to move forward entering data into the backup. You can also now trash the copy of the backup that you opened for testing purposes so it isn't hanging around and causing you confusion sometime in the future.

Thanks for your suggestion. I may try it.

Unknown

jacobs said:

I can't say definitively, but I do know that the developers have made changes over time to not store some duplicated data in the Quicken data file. For instance, Quicken used to always keep a duplicate copy of your data file, within the data file, prior to each software update which changed the database structure. But that extra copy was not meant to be accessible by end users, so they decided it was a mistake to be bloating the data file to maintain it. (Now, Quicken does an automatic backup, to your designated backup folder, before installing updates.) So your data file could have been double its true size. That would explain your backups now being roughly half the size as before. I think this was part of the version 3.7 update -- the one prior to the latest 3.8 update -- but since I don't use Quicken 2016 regularly anymore, I'm not positive which update contained this change.

What you can do to satisfy yourself that your backups are sound it to test one. (This is a good strategy we all should do periodically, but most of us probably don't.) First, make a COPY of a recent backup -- never open the backup file itself, only a copy. Then open the backup copy by either double-clicking on it or dragging it over the Quicken icon in your dock. then explore the data: do all your account balances look correct? Run a few reports, poke around; scroll from the beginning to end of several account registers to make sure it goes back as far as you believe it should. If everything looks okay, then chances are, it is. Now, you want to close the backup copy and to re-open your live data file, again by double clicking it or dragging it over the Quicken app icon in your dock. Be sure you do this, and that the filename at the top of the screen shows your live data and not the backup -- you don't want to move forward entering data into the backup. You can also now trash the copy of the backup that you opened for testing purposes so it isn't hanging around and causing you confusion sometime in the future.

Thanks both of you. It was very helpful

smayer97

AMLedger said:

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I knew i could go into preferences and decline the encryption. So i did this and tried another backup. This resulted in a file of its usual size. So i am reasonably happy its a compressed file in the encrypted version. I re instated the encryption and hopefully all will be well. I may keep a full sized file occasionally somewhere just incase.


Thanks again.

FYI, the backups are standard zip files. You simply change the file extension from .backup to .zip and then handle it like any compressed zip file.

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