all my QDF files disappeared

Paul Erickson

What happened? The files are simply gone from my laptop and also from my One Drive account online. Some older backups in a different folder are still here. The missing files are not in recycle bin.

studpup

Perhaps click start / Windows System / File Explorer, and under Search, type .qdf and press enter. it'll search your computer and show you all the quicken files on your computer. The default location for your files is Documents \ Quicken, so they're likely in that folder. 

Paul Erickson

Thanks Studpup. I did try that. It found my old backup files, but not the current set. Fortunately I also sync to Quicken on-line. I am OK with restoring from the on-line data, but I am not sure how to do that since my files are gone on the PC. I am afraid it may wipe out the on-line set as well.

I have not seen anyone else with this problem so maybe it is something I did. Been using Quicken about 20 years - maybe my mental decline is starting!

studpup

If you're using File History feature of Windows 10, restore your missing Quicken file. 
http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027408/windows-10-backup-and-restore

Since you're keeping your backups on OneDrive, just copy over the latest backup file to your Documents folder and rename it to remove the date. By copying it, the good backup on OneDrive is left unharmed.

Consider setting Quicken to backup after every session and keep the past 99 versions. It uses a fair amount of disk space, but gives you more options for rolling back if something goes haywire or corruption or computer/drive failure occurs.

I don't know if changing the quicken's backup directory to OneDrive is a "supported configuration" but I've done it and it works for me.

Greg_the_Geek

The Quicken Cloud stores and transmits your information between Quicken Desktop, Quicken Mobile, and Quicken on the Web.  A Quicken Cloud account is automatically created when you create a Quicken ID, but you do not have to use it. 

Also, the Quicken Cloud is not a backup; you can't restore Quicken data from the Quicken Cloud, and you can't access the Quicken Cloud from anywhere except the desktop and mobile Quicken products.  If you're looking for a cloud backup service for Quicken, please see this information about Dropbox and Quicken.

What is the Quicken Cloud?

Paul Erickson

Thanks Greg and Studpup. I discontinued Carbonite a couple years ago when I started using One Drive, thinking One Drive would protect me from a hard drive crash. But One Drive can't help in this case. Still don't now what happened, but thankfully I can manually recreate from transaction download from the cloud. Will start using a real backup strategy again.

Could be worse. Only 6 weeks into the new tax year. This could have happened in November!

thecreator

Paul Erickson said:

What happened? The files are simply gone from my laptop and also from my One Drive account online. Some older backups in a different folder are still here. The missing files are not in recycle bin.

Hi @""Paul Erickson" ,

When files are deleted from One Drive, the files are gone. They are not moved to the Recycled Bin.

What is the path to your Main Quicken Data File? Do you have Automatic Backups turned on? Do you do Manual Backups? Manual Backups are placed on External Hard Drives or Thumb Drives.

studpup

If you delete files off onedrive, they don't appear in your local computers recycle bin, but onedrive maintains its own recycle bin. Check in a browser within 30 days to restore those files:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restore-deleted-files-or-folders-in-onedrive-949ada80-0026-4db3-a953-c99083e6a84f

Paul Erickson

Found them in the OneDrive recycle bin. Thanks SP and everyone for your help! I deleted them Feb 6, almost a week before doing the upgrade. So obviously it was a me problem, not a Quicken problem.

Ps56k2

So... how did all the rest of them also get deleted -
from your C: drive--->  /Quicken/Backup/

RedSauce

I contacted Quicken support about the same issue. I believe this is the result of a cloud synchronization issue with OneDrive or Carbonite. My files eventually re-appeared. However, this is pretty alarming when it happens.

Greg_the_Geek

That's why it's not recommended to get your active Quicken data file in a OneDrive or other network folder. Only backups.

Ps56k2

RedSauce said:   My files eventually re-appeared.

How do files disappear and then re-appear ... not really possible.... Too many weird things here -