From Shelley Elmblad,
Your Guide to Financial Software.
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Quicken users must make a back up copy of Quicken data before installing either a new version of Quicken or installing Microsoft Money. Regular backups of Quicken data is essential to avoid losing all Quicken data in the event of a hard drive failure.

To make a back up copy of the Quicken data file:

1. Start Quicken and click on File, then click on Backup.
2. Set the file location:
   • To temporarily store backup files during an install, set the file location to your desktop.
   • To permanently store backup files, place a black CD in your computer's CD drive and set the file location to the CD drive letter.
3. Five files will appear on your Windows Desktop or will be copied to the CD with the file extensions QTX, QSD, QPH, QEL and QDF. These are your back up data files.
4. Simply delete the files on your desktop when you are sure you no longer need them, after you have been using the new version of Quicken or Microsoft Money for some time. If you backed up to a disk, be sure to store it in a safe place.

If you read this from a link in Quicken Restore Error messages, return to Restore article.