Synching to a primary backup.
I lost all my passwords (forget all passwords) yesterday, and still can't get a few to work properly now.
Often, I'd just go to a backup vs. banging my head on this new issue, but synching adds a level of complexity.
Question 1: Would restoring to a backup put all the passwords back? Normally I'd say yes, but passwords can often be a complex situation given encryption, and (mentioned soon) synching.
Ifr I go to a backup, how does synching handle this? does dropbox "bring the backup up to date" given another (secondary) computer and dropbox have the new info, or does the primary backup send some sort of "never mind" to dropbox, or, does it simply get out of sync?
Similarly, I don't think passwords are synched via dropbox in MD, but who knows.
I guess I'm asking - is there a knowledgeabase article about the combination of restoring to a backup and syncing, or does someone just know the answers?
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1 Posted by dwg on 17 Dec, 2020 01:16 AM
I'm a fellow user.
The note I have is that Moneydance backups do not contain online banking connection information.
2 Posted by dtd on 17 Dec, 2020 01:23 AM
Ok, so that throws this idea right out - i.e. try to get the passwords back via backup.
otoh, curious about question 2, in another circumstance, of course. i.e. if you go to a backup, how does syncing handle this?
3 Posted by dwg on 17 Dec, 2020 01:37 AM
A Moneydance backup disables syncing, unfortunately it does not fully reset it which is why you see a script being mentioned in various posts.
What a data set that has been restore from back up is ultimately, is really just a standalone system.
There should be Knowledge Base articles on these issues but there isn't. We know what happens based on observations and experience.
4 Posted by dtd on 17 Dec, 2020 01:39 AM
Ok, so doubly bad idea, as I would go from the frying pan and into the fire, and find no passwords in the fire either..
Thanks.
I'll just keep working on getting everything back by hand.
5 Posted by dwg on 17 Dec, 2020 02:01 AM
If you are going to shoot yourself in the foot it might as we be in both feet :)
Backup is geared to the ultimate restoration of your data when things go really bad, leaving things like the syncing setup in a backup is a really bad idea as you could restore then have bad data from the shared location overwrite what it good restored data.
For experienced users you could make a case to have both Moneydance created backup as well as having system level backups of your Moneydance files and folders. That would expand your restore options but it is not something I would recommend for the casual user, you need to be an experiences computer user and have a good understanding of how Moneydance works.
6 Posted by dtd on 17 Dec, 2020 02:49 AM
Actually, if my online banking passwords hadn’t all been forgotten, I wouldn’t be here. Still have a few to fix, have to find my old forum message where I had problems setting it up in the first place due to multiple login ids for Chase.
I agree with your message… thanks.
7 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 17 Dec, 2020 06:28 AM
Just to jump in. I’m very surprised to hear that a backup doesn’t contain the remembered passwords. As far as I can tell, they do (must) exist with the dataset. I think I know where. Has this been proven? I don’t do online banking and so can’t prove it. If anyone has a test dataset with a remembered password, I can look... S
8 Posted by dtd on 17 Dec, 2020 11:11 PM
I obviously don't know the answer, as to passwords for online, but I'm moving to a different workaround (reinstalling about 40 passwords, then creating two new accounts for the two that I can't make work).
If you have any personal interest, I can set up a test account, but my personal interest is just getting things to work again.
Thanks!
9 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 18 Dec, 2020 07:08 AM
I’m interested in a dataset with a test account with remembered online passwords. I’m hoeing my Toolbox can then be more useful for people.
10 Posted by dtd on 19 Dec, 2020 12:28 AM
Just a thought - can you set up a test database, and pretend connect to banks, even if the passwords are wrong?
I started to do a test, but realized I didn't want real passwords. Then I thought, if they get stored anyway, maybe you could just set up with fakes?
Just a thought. And even it ends up not working (i.e. not stored) you've learned something?
11 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 19 Dec, 2020 06:47 AM
Nope. Unless the connection logs in successfully, it won’t remember the pwd.
12 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 21 Dec, 2020 04:37 PM
FYI - I've just checked (and tested) the MD code and I can see that MD deletes any/all Sync keys/settings when it is asked to Restore from Backup (i.e. when the archive is opened then these settings are reset so that the restored dataset does not do any syncing). This doesn't affect. the original dataset. I still can't see anywhere that it deletes remembered passwords.....
13 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 21 Dec, 2020 05:27 PM
Further update. The Moneydance backup (from file>export backup menu) contains everything...
As I mentioned above, if you 'restore from backup' using the menu then it 'nukes' the sync settings.
When you sync a dataset, it does NOT sync config.dict nor does it sync the file called ./safe/settings. which is an encrypted settings file. Without a test dataset that contains remembered passwords, I can't test, but I suspect they are in this file and hence do not sync.
I see no reason why a restored dataset would not contain contain remembered passwords.... unless when they are used, they are considered 'invalid' and hence they don't work at that point in time..... Should be easy enough to find them.....
System closed this discussion on 22 Mar, 2021 05:30 PM.