QM2007 to QM2019 - Could not Import Data File

James Culbertson

I am trying to migrate from Quicken Mac 2007 to Quicken Mac 2019. I am getting a "Could not Import 'Data File'" error. I also have Quicken Mac 2017 installed which imported my 2007 data file successfully in the past, but now gives me the same error as 2019. I have re-indexed the data file, than did a "backup to disk" which I used to try to import into 2019 and 2017. The file has .qdfm at the end. I am on High Sierra with an APFS SSD startup disk, but the only issue currently is no auto-backups; as mentioned I can manually backup with no issues. I even tried saving and importing to my Promise Pegasus disk array in case the process did not like the APFS drive.

Any suggestions?

smayer97

How are you performing an import of your QM2007 data?

Note that if you are on High Sierra, QM2007 will NOT perform backups correctly on a APFS formatted drive. The QM2007 data file AND backup must reside on a HFS+ formatted drive for any of the built-in backup features to work.

You can see if this discussion thread helps:
Is Quicken for Mac 2007 Compatible with High Sierra (macOS 10.13)?

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James Culbertson

I am opening Quicken Mac 2019 and from the "let's get Started dialogue I am choosing "Start from a Quicken for Mac 2007 file"  Otherwise, I have described what I have used for import above.

I did just try copying my original Quicken Backup Folder to an external HFS+ formatted drive and tried all of the same things from there. Same issue of getting a "Could not Import Data File" error.

James Culbertson

I should mention that Quicken Mac 2007 (on a APFS drive) does allow me to choose "backup to disk..." from the file menu, and successfully creates a backup. However, "Save a copy" fails, as does auto-backup as others have mentioned. Otherwise, all is working normally in Quicken Mac 2007 on High Sierra.

jacobs

James, just for the purpose of trying to isolate the issue, do you have Time Machine with some older backup files? Since you say you did previously import successfully into Quicken 2017, I'm wondering if a 2007 data file from, say, a year ago, would import okay. (Make sure you make a copy of your current data file -- I'd suggest using File > Compress on your current data file -- to make absolutely certain you don't wipe it out when restoring from a backup.)

Also, you said you tried importing from the Backup To Disk versions you created. Just to double-check: did you try importing from your original, live data file rather than the backup? (I'm just distrustful of Quicken 2007 making any valid new files on an APFS drive.)

James Culbertson

No older backups from very long ago. And I did try importing from the live data file (off of an HFS+ external drive) as well as other backup files on HFS+ external drives.

James Culbertson

I was able to finally migrate my Quicken Mac 2007 data file to Quicken 2019 (thanks to Quicken technical support) by "save a copy" into a folder on the desktop, and this imported fine. All other methods failed to import.

smayer97

James Culbertson said:

I was able to finally migrate my Quicken Mac 2007 data file to Quicken 2019 (thanks to Quicken technical support) by "save a copy" into a folder on the desktop, and this imported fine. All other methods failed to import.

That suggests that you had some kind of undetected data corruption, which is one of the things that Save a Copy helps resolve. The other would be to perform a re-indexing of the file. 

Glad it worked out for you.

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Unknown

This is all well and good, but when I try to safe a copy of my Quicken 2007 file I get the error message "Unable to erase partly copied files" and it aborts the file creation effort. I get a couple folders, but no copy is created. I can create a back file .qdfm. Is creating copy or creating a backup result in the same .qdfm file creation? I just want to make sure I can update from Quicken 2007 for Mac into the Quicken 2019 before I commit to invest into updating my SW. I am running MacOS Mojave v10.14.2.

James Culbertson

I could not "save a copy" on High Sierra (due I think to the APFS drive format). I used an old laptop with El Capitan (and HFS+ drive format) to do the "save a copy" which was what worked for me. You may need to do the same. But I would call a tech support person at Intuit; they were very helpful.

smayer97

James Culbertson said:

I could not "save a copy" on High Sierra (due I think to the APFS drive format). I used an old laptop with El Capitan (and HFS+ drive format) to do the "save a copy" which was what worked for me. You may need to do the same. But I would call a tech support person at Intuit; they were very helpful.

First, Quicken is no longer owned by Intuit but is a self-standing company since April 2016, so you would be contacting Quicken.com ;-)

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smayer97

Simon Rudyard Parker said:

This is all well and good, but when I try to safe a copy of my Quicken 2007 file I get the error message "Unable to erase partly copied files" and it aborts the file creation effort. I get a couple folders, but no copy is created. I can create a back file .qdfm. Is creating copy or creating a backup result in the same .qdfm file creation? I just want to make sure I can update from Quicken 2007 for Mac into the Quicken 2019 before I commit to invest into updating my SW. I am running MacOS Mojave v10.14.2.

As James points out below, the issue has to do with the fact that backup features of QM2007 are not compatible with Mac High Sierra (OS 10.13) or higher when using an APFS formatted drive. The solution is to have the original data file AND any backups stored on a HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) format to use these features. This can be accomplished using an external drive or using Disk Utilities to create a HFS+ partition.

You can read more about this here:

• Is Quicken for Mac 2007 Compatible with High Sierra (macOS 10.13)?
  
• Is Quicken for Mac 2007 Compatible with Mojave (macOS 10.14)?
  

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