Why is my Mac "Save a Backup" file 25mb while same backup is 126mb on Windows

TechnoJock

I'm a recent convert from Quicken for Windows to the Mac version. After finally coming to grips with the fact that the Mac version may never have 2-row transactions, I thought I'd give it a go.

So far - after several nuances - I'm getting used to it. However, I'm confused as to why my Mac backup is so small compared to the Windows version.

Does Linux really have a more efficient file system than Windows? Is the Mac backup using compression behind the scenes thus accounting for the enormous difference in file sizes?

John_in_NC

Howdy to the Mac version!

I wouldn't lose sleep over this for a few reasons:

1) The conversion from one platform to another tends to be a lower fidelity conversion. Things like budgets, calendars, reports, etc. aren't carried over. You will eventually rebuild many of these things in time.

2) The Windows and Mac version each use a different database that is specific to that OS. Different database structures have different goals: some are optimized for space, some for performance, and so on. The QWin uses an older structure (roots in an Oracle DB?) while the Mac version uses Apple's CoreData version of SQLite.

In time, I suspect your Mac file will get larger as the database enlarges to give it more "elbow room" for performance. Is the backup compressed? It has been in the past, but Quicken stopped doing it at one point. Maybe they have gone back to doing so. I do notice that a backup is now smaller than my working file.

In reality, though, it doesn't really matter. In terms of disk space, the difference is negligible. Performance of the program and database reliability is what matters most. 

jacobs

In addition to what John wrote above, yes, the Quicken Mac backup files are compressed. My backup file is less than half the size of my live data file.