Does deleting old backups hurt current backups?

Question

I am not sure if I have chosen the correct category, but I hope that someone

can help me with an issue having to do with Quicken Premier and my Windows 11 PC.

I have a large number of Quicken backup files that are very old, as well as more recent ones.

Can I delete those old backup files, so that I can free up space on my PC hard drive or will that cause issues with my current Quicken Premier program and recent backups?

Thank you in advance.

q_lurker · Accepted Answer

There is no connection between backups. Delete away!

Some users do feel better keeping backups of a certain age, perhaps up to a year. It is all personal preference.

NotACPA · Accepted Answer

As @q_lurker has said, the files are independent of each other.

Regarding which to keep, it becomes a question of your tolerance for loss … but that's something you'd need to determine for yourself.

Keeping daily backups for a week, then weekly for a month or two, then quarterly for a year is a schedule that's been suggested before … but that requires some effort on your part to manage the process.

It all comes down to "if your Q data file get's damaged (or your computer destroyed), how far back would you be willing to go to re-create everything"?

Probably the MOST critical piece, however, is to be SURE to have backups that are stored OFF OF your hard drive, say to the cloud or a CD or a USB or such, in case your drive/computer get fried.