how to recover sync'd date to older MD?
OK, so I lost the disk in my up-to-date iMac, then I trashed the display when replacing the disk. Now I am using an older Mini that won't update later than 10.11 El Capitan so I can't use the up-to-date MD version (reduced to 2020.2 (1929). I have a backup/archive, but it is missing a significant number of transactions that I'd rather not re-enter (even if I can find all the supporting docs). So how do I sync back from iCloud to my older MD instance? MD on iOS is showing that the sync'd data is current, but how do I get to it?
Comments are currently closed for this discussion. You can start a new one.
Keyboard shortcuts
Generic
| ? | Show this help |
|---|---|
| ESC | Blurs the current field |
Comment Form
| r | Focus the comment reply box |
|---|---|
| ^ + ↩ | Submit the comment |
You can use Command ⌘ instead of Control ^ on Mac
1 Posted by Glen Foster on 28 Feb, 2024 05:40 PM
I will add that MD 2020 only shows dropbox and shared folder as syncing options, I suppose moving the syncing data to Dropbox or a local store might be an option if only I could get to it on iCloud. Apple doesn't show me the file(s), but they are happy to charge me for the storage!
2 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 28 Feb, 2024 06:04 PM
Backups available?
I think you are snookered... You could technically grab the iCloud txn files, decrypt, then re encrypt into dropbox... but there's only a couple of people that could help you do that.. But you don't have iCloud access?
Do you have any xxx.moneydancearchive files?
3 Posted by Glen Foster on 28 Feb, 2024 06:24 PM
I do have access to the iCloud drive, but no MD files show up in the hierarchy. Hidden by some Apple arcanery, I guess.
My archives are a year old, I want to avoid having to re-enter a year's worth of transations. Worse, it's tax prep. season!
4 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 28 Feb, 2024 07:24 PM
The iCloud folder is hidden and encrypted.
You need to get a newer MD installed. Why won’t the latest install? It should?
5 Posted by Glen Foster on 28 Feb, 2024 09:00 PM
My OS is too old for the current MD release. My hardware is too old for a recent macOS. My older MD doesn't like my 2023 key. When I go to the key recovery link provided by IK, it only sends me my most recent purchase, none of the older ones.
I guess I'm buying a new Mac...except where did the USB go? Gotta buy all new peripherals too. Aaarrrrgghhh!!!
6 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 28 Feb, 2024 09:02 PM
Have you actually tried the latest MD? What happens?
7 Posted by Glen Foster on 28 Feb, 2024 09:45 PM
Date/Time: 2024-02-28 16:43:36.387 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.11.6 (15G22010)
Report Version: 11
Crashed Thread: 6
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY
8 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 28 Feb, 2024 10:03 PM
😢
9 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 28 Feb, 2024 10:04 PM
Do you have any xxx.moneydancearchive files?
10 Posted by Glen Foster on 28 Feb, 2024 10:35 PM
I do have some archives, but they are a year old or more, and I have made many many changes since this time last year (3x job changes for my wife, all with diff. 401Ks, redid my account structure to better help with tax prep., etc.) I admit, I could have been better about doing manual archiving, but I was relying on the automatic backup, Time Machine, and iCloud syncing all of which have failed me due to version skew in the OS and MD.
Not mentioned previously in this thread, Time Machine is a buggy POS
software that only works in ideal situations. It cannot be relied upon to restore files from one system to another unless the systems are identical hardware. I have much better experiences with dump, tar, and cpio, not that I expect much from them given the "improvements" Apple has made with file system attributes.
11 Posted by Glen Foster on 29 Feb, 2024 04:10 PM
This comment was split into a new private discussion: how to recover sync'd date to older MD?
Hypothetical question:
If I set up a new MD instance, restore an archive, enter my current valid license key, and set up syncing to my existing iCloud store, what are the chances that MD would "back sync" and retrieve the iCloud stored data into my new MD instance? Or is it not designed to work that way?
The data is on the iCloud store, I can see it on my phone.
I guess the key issue would be if the restored archive were dated as time of restoration rather than time of actual input. I could skip that step if it makes a difference.
Given the importance of financial information in the lives of their user base, i seems to me that IK could pay a little more attention to a robust backup and restore strategy. Or perhaps one of our talented extension authors might want take a stab at this?
12 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 29 Feb, 2024 05:15 PM
If you set up a new MD instance, (license key is irrelevant), and your Mac is linked to the same iCloud account, and when you restore the MD backup you ensure the option to RETAIN SYNC SETTINGS remains ticked, then yes, there is a high degree of chance that it will pick up the more recent sync changes.. The restore time does not really matter.. MD will pickup on the date/time of individual sync txns' date/time.
I think the MD backup/restore strategy is pretty robust. Try it....
??
13 Posted by Glen Foster on 01 Mar, 2024 02:16 PM
I managed to find in my stack of retired Macs a MacBookPro that is new enough to run macOS 10.12 and a recent version of MD, Restored an archive from a year ago and turned on sync to iCloud (where my previous syncing was done). This appears to have resulted in some measure of bringing the data shown in the application back to near currency.
But....how do I know that all transactions have been restored? I will still have to audit an entire years worth of transactions against my financial institutions' statements. I have also made many journal entries in the past year, some of which I am sure I don't remember. It would be nice to have a tool that shows the data in the sync'd store in some kind of report format, as if it were a true MD archive.
My recommendation to all MD'rs, At a fixed date every month, print off an "All transactions - detailed" report for the previous month, or Y-T-D. Save the paper copy in your fireproof safe,and/or store the pdf in multiple locations, With backups, two is one, and one is none, and three is better.
In any case, if my initial post opened an IK support ticket, it can be closed. I am not exactly OK, but I am a lot better off than I was.
14 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 01 Mar, 2024 02:46 PM
Perhaps an alternative suggestion.
Turn on MD auto backups daily. Keep 90+ daily copies.
Then regularly use Time Machine, which will capture the MD backups.
Also, consider making MD backups to Dropbox too.
System closed this discussion on 31 May, 2024 02:50 PM.