Quicken crashes during backup

JM-1

When I backup using Ctrl-B, Quicken sometimes works, and sometimes it cannot find the file then cannot find any file to open. Restarting Quicken sometimes fixes it and sometimes I have to reboot the computer. Quicken updated again yesterday.

Frankx

Hi @JM-1

This seems odd, and I assume that you agree.  Since you titled this post - does that mean that Quicken actually crashes in connection with the backup process?  Or, is it something else?  Since you are using the Ctrl-B approach to backups, I assume that you are an experienced user.  Do you have the date and time automatically appended?  When it doesn't "work" automatically, do you see anything else that seems odd?  Also when did this start to happen?

Frankx

Jim_Harman

Do you have cloud backup software (Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.) that is backing up your data file? If so, try disabling the cloud backup for Quicken's directory and see if that fixes the issue. If the cloud backup can access the directory where Quicken's backup is stored, you will still have that second backup in the cloud.  

When you do a backup in Quicken, your data file is closed before the backup begins and sometimes the cloud software opens the file before Quicken's backup routine can re-open it to perform its backup. This causes Quicken's backup to fail, and the error is not handled gracefully. 

NotACPA

@JM-1, by any chance are you running DropBox or a similar automated backup?

They can cause problems with Q's backup function because when you initiate a backup, Q first closes the data file (to force all write operations to conclusion) and than re-opens it for the actual backup.

Dropbox, etc grab the data file during this brief closure and prevent Q from re-opening it.

The solution to this is to point Dropbox, etc to backup NOT the main data file, but rather to copy/backup the .QDF-Backup file that Q creates.

JM-1

I do not use Dropbox, but do have Acronis True Image for local backup and IDrive for online backup. However, they only run at night and are not running continuously.

JM-1

This only started a few weeks ago. Sometimes it works perfectly. My data file is in the Documents directory, which I found recently is located by default in the cloud on Microsoft One Drive (which I did not know when I got my new computer a year ago.. However the backup directory in on an external USB hard disk.

Jim_Harman

OK, so I think you can tell OneDrive to not back up the Documents\Quicken folder or wherever you keep your data file(s).

JM-1

I am thinking of trying to move the basic file from My Documents to a local drive and trying to make this default for Quicken. Any thoughts?

Jim_Harman

If your data file is not currently on a local hard drive, it should be. As I said above, you should also set that folder so that it is not automatically backed up by Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive. See this Support article
https://www.quicken.com/support/can-i-share-my-quicken-file-between-multiple-computers-using-dropbox

gman0117

My Quicken file does the same thing (subscription version on Windows). Nine times out of ten when backing it up, it locks up. I have to use Task Manager to quit Quicken. Interesting part is the backup completes...the program just locks up. The Quicken software is on my hard drive. The back-up is on an external drive (hardware...not Cloud storage). I do run Dropbox. Also, Quicken is incredibly SLOW. I have been using Quicken for probably 25 years and I'm getting ready to dump it!

JM-1

Thank you for the solution, but it was convoluted. (Note that the problem occurred recently.) I found that my Quicken folder was in the Documents folder which is under C:\users\... folder but appears separate at the top of the list. Microsoft, in their wisdom, created a One Drive backup of a number of key folders including the Quicken folder - BUT I did not know that, nor did I know that One Drive was accessing the file at the same Time I was trying to back it up. This caused the problem.
So I created a folder on an external drive and copied the Quicken files into it. I then deleted the One Drive Quicken folder, and it did that and also deleted my original folder/files in my Documents folder. I opened Quicken and opened my original data file on my external disk, but I had to log into Quicken with User ID and password, and verify my phone number with Quicken.com which took some time. I then found that Quicken automatically recreated the files in the Quicken folder in the Documents folder, and One Drive also recreated the the files/folders, and the problem was back. By using Windows Help, I found out how to exclude folders and files from the backup to One Drive. Hooray, but this deleted my Quicken files on my Documents folder again. Fortunately, I had a good backup to open in Quicken, and went through the process again - logging on, etc. Quicken recreated the Quicken folder under Documents before, but it no longer backs up to One Drive, but the folder is still there marked with a big red X, and the new working folder is marked with a red X also.
I guess that Quicken can only work with data in the Documents folder, though it can backup anywhere. I noticed that Quicken syncs somewhere on Quicken.com by itself. As I said before, I have backup software of my own but they only run once daily in the middle of the night when I am not using Quicken.
Now, I need to find out how to access One Drive to retrieve my data should my computer cease functioning - hopefully never, ha, ha.

John