Hard drive crash had to reload Windows so no local data file. Can I download from Web?

volvodr66

I have the Premier subscription and have only had Quicken for a few weeks. I went through hours to get every thing set up and all of my accounts added to get everything working just right. Being new I'm not sure but I probably had my data file set to store on my C-drive. I also use Microsoft One-Drive a lot but I don't think I had gotten far enough to use that as a data store location yet. I also noticed that I could log onto the web and access my Quicken information as well.

What I was wondering is if my Quicken information can be accessed from the web, even after my computer hard drive crashed and my data file was gone, is there some way to download that information from the web and use that to re-create my data file on my PC?

If not, I guess I just need to re-enter everything manually on my PC. Will that information just update what's on the web after I re-enter it on my computer?

Should I leave the data file location on my PC or should I move it off-site to a more secure location like my One-Drive to prevent something like this again.

Thanks in advance for any advice any of you can give.

Tom.

Sherlock

Unless you have saved a backup of the Quicken file, you should recreate the file.  

You should access the Quicken file in a folder on an internal drive, use short (8.3) names (for example, QData.QDF), and not allow other programs to access the Quicken file at the same time (for example, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, MegaSync, ...).

The are various approaches to backing up files.  Ideally, you should save backups securely at an accessible remote physical location.

For Quicken, I keep 5 automatic backups and 1 manual backup on an internal drive.   I am using Window's File History to maintain backups hourly for a month and monthly there after on an external drive.  I also use Duplicati to maintain 3 months of daily backups, followed by 3 months of weekly backups, followed by 6 monthly backups all securely on cloud storage.    In addition, I maintain 3 monthly system images and weekly Windows backups on another external drive.  I stlll have access (laziness) to over 20 backup data files saved when I upgraded Quicken annually.  

Disk space is cheap.

Sherlock

Unless you have saved a backup of the Quicken file, you should recreate the file.  

You should access the Quicken file in a folder on an internal drive, use short (8.3) names (for example, QData.QDF), and not allow other programs to access the Quicken file at the same time (for example, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, MegaSync, ...).

The are various approaches to backing up files.  Ideally, you should save backups securely at an accessible remote physical location.

For Quicken, I keep 5 automatic backups and 1 manual backup on an internal drive.   I am using Window's File History to maintain backups hourly for a month and monthly there after on an external drive.  I also use Duplicati to maintain 3 months of daily backups, followed by 3 months of weekly backups, followed by 6 monthly backups all securely on cloud storage.    In addition, I maintain 3 monthly system images and weekly Windows backups on another external drive.  I stlll have access (laziness) to over 20 backup data files saved when I upgraded Quicken annually.  

Disk space is cheap.

volvodr66

Thanks for the reply. That's kind of what I thought I was going to have to do I just wanted confirmation from someone that knew what they were talking about. You would think if it automatically created the web portal from the data on my pc, you would be able to use that in some way for recovery. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks again!

Ps56k2

Here is some info on the Quicken Cloud -

https://www.quicken.com/support/what-quicken-cloud

And we all backup our computers differently... so different thinking & approaches.

I of course use the Quicken auto backups to the local Quicken/Backup folder.
I also get "reminded" and manually backup to another local folder.

Then, for me, once a month - like today - I perform my main backups.
I manually backup to TWO external USB hard drives... alternating months.
- simple Copy of these folders - Documents - Pictures - Music - Video - Downloads

Then, I also perform a full disk image backup - for a complete bare metal restore

volvodr66

Okay, now that I know I can't use Quicken on the web to download data and use as recovery data after my hard drive crash I know I have to re-create a new Quicken data file. My issue is when I re-install and start Quicken there are only two options at the top of the screen. File and help. Under file I can pick a location of the new data file but that's as far as I can go. When I come back to the main screen nothing changes. I've started and re-started Quicken but there's no change. Shouldn't I see the normal Quicken program start up?

Sherlock

To create a new Quicken file, you should select File > New Quicken File..., choose New Quicken File, select OK, naviaged to the desired folder, enter the desired name, and select Save.

volvodr66

> @Sherlock said:
> To create a new Quicken file, you should select File > New Quicken File..., choose New Quicken File, select OK, naviaged to the desired folder, enter the desired name, and select Save.
I did that and named the file, "Primary" and then went back into Quicken and selected open Quicken file but there was none present. When I went back into the folder the only file present was, "volvo's quicken data_SyncLog.dat". So it's not creating the Primary.QDT file when I'm telling it to do so. I even went in manually and created the file myself (Primary.QDF) and closed and re-opened Quicken and still have nothing but the blank screen with the only options at the top being File and Help.

Sherlock

volvodr66 said:

> @Sherlock said:
> To create a new Quicken file, you should select File > New Quicken File..., choose New Quicken File, select OK, naviaged to the desired folder, enter the desired name, and select Save.
I did that and named the file, "Primary" and then went back into Quicken and selected open Quicken file but there was none present. When I went back into the folder the only file present was, "volvo's quicken data_SyncLog.dat". So it's not creating the Primary.QDT file when I'm telling it to do so. I even went in manually and created the file myself (Primary.QDF) and closed and re-opened Quicken and still have nothing but the blank screen with the only options at the top being File and Help.

What do you mean by went back into Quicken?

After you select Save, you should be offered the choice to use Use Mobile and Web and after you select Next, you should be prompted to Add Account.