Missing backup files

Daniel_8925032

In trying to restore a backup file I had this message "One or more backup files are missing"
I have 6 months of data to put in again unless I can resolve this so would appreciate some help. I have Reckon Accounts Personal Plus 2017.

Daniel_8925032

I have not received any replies for this post and perhaps it is because I did not explain my problem well enough. I will enlarge.
I live in two places which means twice a year I need to move my data from each place. I backed up the data from 3 different data sets onto an external hard drive and a memory stick. Two of the data sets produced the earlier message when I tried to restore them. I am anxious to find why this occurred so it does not happen again.

John Campbell

Daniel,

How many files do you have in your backup set ?
Is it a .RKN file or do you have the uncompressed set of files?
There are typically about 7 files with different extensions.

I have the following files in my backup:
Qdata.HCX
Qdata.IDX
Qdata.QDF
Qdata.QEL
Qdata.QIN
Qdata.QPH
Qdata.QTX

It could be that you only are looking at Qdata.QDF which is the main transaction file, but the others are also important, especially Qdata.QPH which stores the historical share price info.

Qdata.RKN is the compressed file of all, which is basically Qdata.zip. You could change the name and extract the files to a directory you have access to, such as C:\TEMP.

Also, to what directory are you recovering the files ? There are lots of reported problems using directories with long names or access restrictions, so it is best to keep it simple.

An test alternative could be to extract the 7 files to C:\TEMP and open this data set.

Daniel_8925032

Thank you John. This will take me a while to chase this up so I will get back to you a little later

Daniel_8925032

I have had a chance to look into this now and the file contains one RKN file. I cannot see anything else listed.

John Campbell

Daniel,

The .rkn file is similar to a .zip file. I am not sure if it is identical to a .zip file as I do not know how RPP generates the .rkn file.
However, it is my expectation that RPP can extract the required files from a xxx.rkn backup file that RPP has generated, so I don't know why you are getting the error you initially reported. ( could you be overwriting an existing database and getting an error ? )

To see what is in the .rkn file; If you change the name of xxx.rkn to xxx.zip, you can look at the file in windows explorer and see what files have been included. If all 7 files are present, you could try and extract these files to a directory and see if you can open this database. The problem could be if the compressed file format in the .rkn file is different to .zip format, although this would be a bit unfriendly by Reckon. Try to create a directory that has a short name and you have full access rights, as I suggest with c:\temp\quicken.

I hope this works, else there is another problem; perhaps with the RPP install ?
Interested to hear how it goes.

John

No one working at Reckon this week able to answer this question asked on Monday ?

John Campbell

Daniel, extract this .rkn file and look at it

Daniel_8925032

John thank you again for your suggestions. I did as you suggested and changed the name to xxx.zip and the files listed are QDF, HCX, QEL and QPH so not the 7 you mention. I did not try and open them in another directory. You mention a .rkn file but I cannot see it anywhere on my screen.
I think if I am to go further with this I need to talk to Reckon. In this particular case, I have inputted the figures again so I am back up to date. However, what I want to avoid is a repeat next time I transfer them.

John Campbell

Daniel,

RPP should be able to recover info from the .rkn file, or you could put the 4 files in a directory and try to open the xxx.qdf file in that directory; both should work.

If you open the xxx.qdf file, be aware that you could then have two database directories, so you would need to understand how to manage that, possibly deleting one of them.

I don't fully understand why you could not recover from the .rkn file; that is the .rkn file that contained the 4 files you identified as QDF, HCX, QEL and QPH. These should be sufficient to recover info from (potentially the other 3 could be regenerated). If you change the file name back from .zip to .rkn, I would have expected you would have been able to recover from this data set using RPP > restore.

As you are using RPP 2017, there could be a problem with program expiry, which Reckon told me a year ago, forcing me to go to RPP 2018.

Hopefully you are getting a better understanding of the Reckon backup options.

Daniel_8925032

No luck with opening the file after changing the name back to www.rkn. It doesn't show up as an available file.
By the way, I have  PPlus 2016, not 2017 as I mentioned earlier.

Robyn Kelly (Partner)

Daniel just wondering why you are trying to restore the data file?  Did you get a new computer?  Are you definite you are trying to restore the data file (File > Restore Backup File > Restore) and not just open it?
I have come across this error a few times and mostly what I am aware of is that it's because it's being opened in the wrong version.  Maybe you did actually have 2017?
Regards, Robyn Kelly.

Daniel_8925032

Thank you for your reply Robyn
The reason for my restoring the file is because my wife and I live in two places. I have a desktop computer in each place which means I have a need to transfer the data periodically. Backup and restore seems to be the way to do it, unless I am missing something. 

Robyn Kelly (Partner)

Have you been able to sort this Daniel?

Daniel_8925032

No I haven’t been able to solve this Robyn. I was forced to re-enter the data for the last six months and that has enabled me to proceed. However, the problem will probably occur again when next I try to copy the data from one computer to the other. I have had discussions with Reckon about it and they suggested it might be because of a Windows 10 upgrade I did a couple of years ago. In some cases there have been problems with older versions of the program and Windows 10. However, that seems strange because both 2016 versions work satisfactorily. They did suggest I re-install the program, which I have not done as yet. So, to answer your question, it is a work in progress.

Robyn Kelly (Partner)

Hi Daniel, you shouldn't have needed to do that, but, that's what has happened now.
Next time if you have trouble, email I'll try to help robyn@robynkelly.com.au

Daniel_8925032

Thanks Robyn. That is a generous offer which I will be glad to accept if necessary.

Daniel_8925032

After a trip to my other computer, I find I still am unable to restore the backup. I will follow some earlier advice and try to re-install the program. Will the key on the box work or do I need a new one?