J.D. Hodges

If you ever have a problem in Quicken where you cannot backup your QDF data file, and you cannot even copy your QDF data file, then you may want to try the following.

This allowed me to save my mom’s Quicken data after nothing else worked (i.e. validate/repair did not work) and all the other solutions I found online did not work.

This particular problem was caused by bad blocks on a failing SSD, but it could have just as easily been a bad HDD. The issue was that the bad blocks were at approximately 230MB into the file. That meant that any copying or backing up would fail right there as well, resulting in a failure notice in Quicken and an incomplete backup/copy. Likewise, even a simple Windows file copy attempt would faily.

Thankfully, by using Force-Copy as shown below I was able to copy/recover the QDF file, validate it and then start using it again with very minimal data loss (about 96KB).

If you have questions about this process, feel free to comment below and I will try to help! 🙂

PS C:\users\user\desktop> .\Force-Copy.ps1 -SourceFilePath “G:\Quicken\2014\Quicken2014.QDF” -DestinationFilePath “C:\recovered_quicken_file.qdf”
Starting copying of G:\Quicken\2014\Quicken-2014.QDF…
Started reading from source file at offset 0.
Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235515904 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235520000 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235524096 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235528192 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235532288 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235536384 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235540480 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235544576 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235548672 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235552768 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235556864 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235560960 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235565056 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235569152 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235573248 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235577344 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235581440 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235585536 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235589632 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235593728 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235597824 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 235601920 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 236531712 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

Can not read 4096 bytes starting at 236535808 bytes: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

98304 bytes are bad.
Copied 448909312 bytes in 00:01:37.3610276 (4.4 MB/s)
Finished copying G:\Quicken\2014\Quicken-2014.QDF!

PS C:\users\user\desktop>

GUI Alternative

If you prefer a more graphical approach to recovering/copying files, you may want to check into Roadkil’s Unstoppable Copier. Force-Copy is very precise and returns the absolute most recoverable data, Unstoppable copier is somewhat more approachable in its usage. See screenshots below…