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Damaged data block

Geobrick

My file verify report says:
QDF:
Damaged data block.
Validating your data.
Repaired your data file by removing a damaged category. Please check your category list for missing categories by going to Tools>Category List.

3 questions.
1) Does "Repaired your data file" mean the damaged block was fixed?

2) How do you check for a missing category? How do you find something that isn't there? The category list has 100s of categories I couldn't possibly know if one was missing.

3) When I rerun the file verify I get:

QDF:
Damaged data block.
Validating your data

I assume that means the file wasn't repaired. Is that correct?

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Comments

Rocket J Squirrel

No.
You can't. I believe this message is inaccurate and misleading.
Correct.

"Damaged data block" means irreparably damaged. It is corruption that Validate & Repair can't fix. If you only have one damaged block, you can possibly live with the permanent corruption; you may never even see it manifest, and if you do, you will know where it occurs and you can try to avoid it.

NotACPA

"Damaged Data Block" means that a section of your hard drive is damaged and can't be read. Q can't possibly fix that.

You might consider doing a RESTORE from your most recent backup. Windows will avoid that damaged block and that should resolve the issue.

Geobrick

Thanks for the replies.

If this is related to a damaged section of the hard drive, does the data corruption caused the damaged section of the hard drive stay with the file when it's moved to another hard drive or backed up to a different location? It seems like the error does propagate itself because my most recent back up has it too. I'll check some older files to see how far back it goes.

Geobrick

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20398265#Comment_20398265

I checked some older backup files, and the error is there as far back as March 2023. I built a new computer after that date, so the corrupted data caused by the physical hard drive damage does stay with the file.

I also have a separate file with different accounts and that file has "Damaged data record" listed 14 times. Is that the same as a "Damaged data block"?

Rocket J Squirrel

If this is related to a damaged section of the hard drive

I doubt this is the case. It is more likely Quicken corrupted its data at some point or some external event like power loss resulted in the damage. You could run CHKDSK and see whether it finds actual disk damage.

I also have a separate file with different accounts and that file has "Damaged data record" listed 14 times. Is that the same as a "Damaged data block"?

Who knows? I would guess a record is smaller than a block, but it doesn't really matter. It is irreparable damage.

Geobrick

I'm sure I've had plenty of crashes over the years. What is the recommended way to repair quicken files? I've read some posts that say everything needs to be exported as a qif file and then imported into a new file.

If that's the path forward, is there a step-by-step instruction link you can provide. For example, when you export to a qif file, what should be checked off to include in the export and what is lost in the process? Should it be done account by account or by selecting "All accounts"? What happens to closed or hidden accounts.

Geobrick

Update:
I've restored back-ups from 2021 and the file with 14 Damaged data records still had 14 damaged data records and the file with the single damaged data block still had the single Damaged data block.

I then opened 2 old Quicken 2016 files. Both had no damaged data records or blocks. I'll have to look for files between 2016 and 2021 to find out when the data was corrupted.