Backup Error Message with Reckon Accounts Personal Plus 2015

Nick LloydNick Lloyd Member Posts: 2
edited August 2020 in Accounts Personal Range
Why am I receiving this error message after attempting to back up my Reckon Accounts Personal Plus 2015 data file? Error message says ‘A backup error occurred. Please check your files were backed up to the selected location (ok link)’ – I can tell you the backup files do have the appropriate time and date records applied to them and this message has only begun in the last week or so. Is it to do with renewing my licence or a possible software upgrade on Reckon’s part? My licence is valid until the 19th of November, 2015. Thank you.

Comments

  • RavRav Administrator Posts: 9,871 Administrator
    edited February 2017

    Hi Nick,

    It definitely sounds like the file has backed up and that is a benign error message.

    Could you please try to rename the filename, from File > File Operations > Rename.

    Make sure the new name is less than eight characters long, does not contain any non-alphanumeric characters, or spaces.


    For full details check out this article - http://kb.reckon.com.au/issue_view.asp?ID=2680 

  • PeterPeter Member Posts: 7 ✭
    edited February 2017
    I am getting the same error message. I have changed the filename to one that is less than 8 characters and it only includes alphas in the file name.  My backup destinaqtion to to a dropbox folder on my hard drive (for DR purposes) but I would not have thought that made any difference as it is still a folder on my C Drive.
  • RavRav Administrator Posts: 9,871 Administrator
    edited December 2016
    Hi Peter,

    From what I understand the backup destination should be set to a local destination on your PC such as Desktop etc and THEN you can move it to Dropbox after it's completed.
  • Andrew ChristieAndrew Christie Member Posts: 160 ✭
    edited June 2019
    Hi, With respect, I disagree with the last comment / reply. I used to backup to my local MS OneDrive folder on my PC without issue (this folder then synced to my cloud-based OneDrive). Unfortunately, since MS Windows 10 has stuffed up my local OneDrive app I have transferred backups to my (local) Google Drive folder which, in turn syncs with my cloud-based Google Drive. SInce doing so I have been receiving this message. Surely what works with one drive should also work with the other? 

    regards

    Andrew

  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    I have the same problem and am more than a little concerned that I cannot verifiably backup  PP2016 to ANY location on my hard drive.  To pay for tech support to get this resolved does not really give me a lot of "happy-boy" feelings when I deem the issue is a flaw in the Reckon Personl Plus software.  Futhermore, to upgrade to PP2017, the installer wants me to UNINSTALL the earlier version.  Not a great suggestion as the earlier version refuses to reliably do a backup.  Let's get some higher tech support onto this and find a resolution.  Thank you.  John L
  • Andrew ChristieAndrew Christie Member Posts: 160 ✭
    edited June 2019
    Well, as I did not receive any other constructive advice from Reckon I have resorted to backing up locally to stop this error message from occurring. Now that Windows 10 Anniversary update has fixed many problems with the OS I will try using One Drive as a destination again as it worked a treat previously. I believe the syncing protocol used by Google Drive and Dropbox are different from One Drive and do not work well with Reckon software backup software processes.
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    When is someone going to look at this issue and give some constructive advice?  This really is concerning as it is a new event.  I prefer to backup to at least two locations and now, with this bug in Reckon PP2016, I have to use Windows file explorer to check to see if even ONE backup has been successful.  Not a happy user.
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    Nothing suggested worked.  I am getting increasingly frustrated with Reckon, the $4.90 a minute "support" service, the "Community" that does not have any answers and the failure of the software to perform as it should.  It is overdue that Reckon software engineers figure out what it is about the product that causes it to ALWAYS fails on a back-up.  I am now getting a 2017 Personal Plus CD sent to me and, in the meantime, I have lost the best part of 2 months of data due to the failure of the Reckon Personal Plus 2016 software to not even commence, let alone complete, a backup.  I really do not have the time or patience to go back over all my transactions for weeks and weeks and re-enter everything, reconcile accounts yet again, knowing that when I finish this time consuming process, I will not be able to backup the data.  The effort is all wasted as the Reckon software will refuse to backup, thus I will lose everything again.  Not impressed.
  • RavRav Administrator Posts: 9,871 Administrator
    edited December 2016
    I'm sorry to hear that John,

    When was the last time a successful backup was performed with your Personal Plus 2016 version?

    Have there been any significant changes to your operating environment since the last successful backup and the time of failure?

    Are you receiving the same error message as the original post or is there more to it?

    Cheers
    Rav
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    Last sucessful backup was some 2-3 weeks ago and since then I have had to gerrymander backup with manually finding files and copying.  The error message is the same everytime..."A backup error occurred. Please check your files were backed up to the selected location." and there is NOT an updated QDATA.QDF file in any location.

    Backup now does not process to ANY location - any directory on the HDD (including windows/programdata/intuit/sample/backup or .../sample), and any external USB drive.

    I am in the process of re-entering bank entries for several credit cards, several bank accounts et cetera, and making up "adjusting entries" for the discrepancies.  I did all this earlier today and now I have to do it all again.  I have better things to do than re-enter all my data for several weeks and try to reconcile accounts yet again.  And I have absolutely zero confidence Reckon will sucessfully backup when I have re-entered everything.

    Having paid for a new license (subscription) in May this year ($135.00) I am pretty irritated with all the headaches Reckon has delivered.

    There is something very wrong with the Recon Personal Plus 2016 (and I am loathed to upgrade to 2017 and encounter more problems) and the Windows 10 environment (with current updates) should not be the issue.  If this were they case, Reckon software engineers should have long since found this glitch and provided a patch for all PP2016 users.

    I worked in a tech (software) environment for many years, having recently wound down my working hours, and software patches were occasionally issued from programming in the US and sucessfully applied.

    I will await the PP2017 CD which Reckonm is sending me and hope this helps.  Nonetheless, I am very concerned that I have no reliable backup and the QDF file I need to save to incorporate into PP2017 may just be a flawed file.

    My Customer number is 77839.image

    John Lescohier
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    Andrew, you are lucky you got any backup at all.  I have had nothing but problems with Reckon Personal Plus 2016 in the past 4 weeks and am getting very frustrated with the lack of a solution.  And the $4.90 a minute support cost is outlandish!  "Community" seems to be in the dark on this issue as well.
  • Robyn Kelly (Partner)Robyn Kelly (Partner) Accredited Partner Posts: 430 ✭✭
    edited September 2019

    John the program does automatically backup for you when you close down.  Have you tried to find these backups on your computer?  You can search for all files *.QDF.  Remember where your current file is sitting and called prior to opening any other data files though.

    Where is your data file stored on your computer?  The program prefers that the data files are located C:Users:User Name:My Documents: Quicken.

    There are accredited partners that would be able to help you:

    https://partnersearch.reckon.com/

    Regards, Robyn Kelly

  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    Well, after much time wasted re-entering many weeks of data, I now have my Reckon Personal Plus 2016 up to date again. HOWEVER, there still is NO ABILITY to backup the currect file to any location such as a USB drive, an alternative hard drive directory, et cetera. It is pretty poor form that Reckon/ Intuit does not allow a user to do backups to multiple locations. Certainly, MYOB is far more user friendly and has the facility for a user to fully protect their data. Perhaps Reckon/ Intuit's ulterior motive is to get users to pay $$ have a secure secondary backup on their "cloud servers". Not impressed, Reckon. Underwhelmed not only with product performance but also lack of technical support to resolve this issue.
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    Not about to pay an accredited partner to resolve what is a software fault that Reckopn should be able to resolve.  Underwhelmed, Robyn.  Nonetheless, thank you for your comments and interest.
  • RavRav Administrator Posts: 9,871 Administrator
    edited December 2016
    John,
    HOWEVER, there still is NO ABILITY to backup the currect file to any location such as a USB drive, an alternative hard drive directory, et cetera.
    Let me clarify this statement, are you now able to back up your current file to the LOCAL destination on your PC? which Personal Plus is installed on? ie. not a remote location such a USB drive etc.
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    Not reliably, Rav.  That the program does not allow multiple backups (eg 1. to removable USB drive, 2. to a user's chosen local HDD directory plus 3. to the obscure Reckon install directory) lacks the VERY BASIC concept of data security - that of having multiple backup locations.  Were that a user had a HDD crash, the obscure Reckon install directory for backup would be very useless as it would be, like the rest of the HDD, gone.
    Thankfully, there are third party utilities that fill the obvious, and quite frankly very scary, data security gap in the Reckon accounting software.
    I recommend the software engineers put their programming hats on and devise a simple user option to allow multiple backup of the QDATA.QDF (and associated other files) to multiple locations.  The QDATA1.QDF, QDATA2.QDF, et cetera are insufficient, if they are iuntended to be "backup-backups".  Perhaps the QDATA.IDX file (if that is the pointer to the obscure Reckon install directory backup location) needs to be recoded to allow for multiple local backup locations.
    Should not be rocket-science to make this possible.
    Best regards,
  • Hew Barnard-BrownHew Barnard-Brown Member Posts: 1
    edited November 2016
    I am also having trouble with PP 2017 in that it will not load automatically my data nor allow me to back up my data.

  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2016
    I have given up on Reckon being able to offer anything positive on this issue. For them, it seems to be too hard and head-in- the-sand, hoping it will go away. I have devised my own workaround for the Reckon software backup failure issue. Disappointed with Reckon.
  • Ken BarclayKen Barclay Member Posts: 6
    edited December 2016

    I am now having this problem. It started about two weeks ago. I have 2 registrations, however it will work on one but not the other. The one I use all of the time is the one I'm having trouble with.
    Each time I try to backup I get the following message “A backup error occurred". Please check your files were backup to the selected location. Well there not. It is getting very frustrating Reckon.



  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited December 2016
    Ken, I never got any support from Reckon on this. The issue persists. I have found the files do backup in spite of the misleading message (software coding fault) in the Reckon personal plus. To cover myself, I use SynchToy to copy the backed up files to an external 3Tb hard drive. I never rust just one backup copy; experience has taught me this. As to Reckon and their faulty product, you will have to live with it as Reckon seems not to understand or care. The community support is equally blasé and do not have any effective solution. Bottom line; get the free SynchToy utility to cover your bases John L
  • Ken BarclayKen Barclay Member Posts: 6
    edited December 2016

    G’Day John,

     

    Thanks for that. Yes like you I like to backup mine on a hard drive and on a separate computer as I have had incidents where I suddenly lose my data. I have found where the backup is so I can transfer the data to my hard drive. We should not have to do this manually it should be done when & where you want it. I don’t have much trust in Reckon especially having to pay $4.90 to talk to a representative as we pay enough for the program in the first place.

     

    Once again thanks mate and have a Merry Christmas.
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited June 2019
    To everyone on the Reckon Community Forum - As Recon PP2015 backup routine is faulty (there is an underlying software coding issue that Reckon has not/ cannot fix), you should make sure you copy all your QDF files on a daily basis to a safe alternative location.  I use Microsoft's SynchToy (a very basic but relaiable free utility) to do just this.  Paying Reckon $4.90 a minute to have them tell you it is "not a software problem..." is not a good solution.  Of course, there is another alternative - MYOB - and I have used this accounting product with 100% reliability and first-class support if you have a question.  Also, my accountant much prefers MYOB as it is, as he says, "bullett-proof".
  • Andrew ChristieAndrew Christie Member Posts: 160 ✭
    edited January 2017
    Hi John
    To which MYOB product do you refer?
    thanks
    Andy
  • John LescohierJohn Lescohier Member Posts: 16
    edited January 2017
    MYOB Accountright Standard 19 worked a treat for me, although, having somewhat wound down my business activity after 21+ years, I use it less than in past.  Gosh, though, it did it all for me and thensome.  John L
Sign In or Register to comment.