Issues After Validate and Repair [Edited]

Mark256

I recently had a problem with my brokerage account not downloading transactions. When I called "tech support" [Removed - Speculation/Disruptive]. Fortunately, I backed up my data before I talked to him. He had me spend over an hour "validating and repairing" data. This rendered my data totally useless and worse off than when I started. I could not even get it to recognize my brokerage. One good thing he had me do was to reload Q. After I hung up from him I restored my old data and the new program worked correctly immediately. The validate and repair command is detrimental. Stop using it!

Chris_QPW

Validate and Repair is two edge sword, not a universal tool for fixing all problems.
Things like restarting Quicken, resorting from a backup, should be tried first, but seldom seem to be the first thing recommended by support or the moderators here (which from I understand have to try to follow the same rules).

There is a reason why Validate and Repair always makes a backup of your data file before it runs, it can cause problems/loss of data.  One of its basic functions is to bring the database back to a consistent state.  If there are links in parts of the database pointing to other parts of the database that it can't find, that can mean that it will remove the link/data so that it will be consistent.  That doesn't mean that it will be "correct".  Or in some cases, it can actually cause problems itself depending on what problems there are in the database, or even if there is a bug in the validate and repair code.  One has to always remember that is code, and just like the code that causes problems in the database in the first place, it can have bugs in it too, especially if it is trying to fix a problem that the developers never thought of.

The flip side to this is that a good number of times it does fix things or at least make things better.

There really isn't any way to know this without trying it, but it there seems to be the false belief that it is some kind of magic wand.  But one should always be sure they have a good backup and after using Validate and Repair do a check to make sure that the resulting file is in fact better off.

Mark256

Well, I wish Q tech support knew what you just said. When he [mess]ed up my data he insisted I must have a problem with my computer. [Removed - Violation of Community Guidelines]

djhc12a

Has there been an update to the validate and repair function?

I noticed a new category that used to be an account after I performed the validate and repair function. I ignored it until I ran into the problem with not being able to add subcategories. See https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7928591/can-not-add-expense-subcategory#latest

One of the suggestions was to restore to a backup file. I decided to go through my backups all the way back to Jan 1, 2022. On each backup, I performed a restore, performed the validate and repair function, and then looked at categories to see if the bogus account occurred. In every case, it did. The validate function log always indicated an active account (not the bogus account) with an issue, but that it did a repair and no further action required. I know I have performed several validate actions since Jan 1, 2022 with no issues.

Chris_QPW

Quicken Inc has never really talked about what is in Validate and Repair. I have never seen it even mentioned in the release notes. About the only way one knows that it changed at all is if the output log changes or if maybe fixes something it didn't before. That is to say, I'm absolutely sure they change it from time to time, and that it will fix some problems, but it is one big black box.