How do I transfer company data to another computer?

[Lockwood]

Hello all,

This is my first post on Accountant Forums, so please bear with me. On a number of occasions I've looked at this forum and found useful advice about other things, and so now that I've got a tricky problem I thought I might put it on here and see if anyone has any insight.

I run a carpentry business as a sole trader. I do my own books, and have been using a program called Microsoft Accounting Express 2009 (US version). I have used this program since I started four years ago and so it has all of my accounts on it. Approximately two months ago the program stopped working. It refuses to open, and wants to send an error report to Microsoft.

I need access to the data, in one way or another. The three different solutions that come to my mind, in terms of resolving the problem are as follows:

• Get the program working again OR
• Get a new computer and continue using the program OR
• Get the program to open the data on another computer and transfer it into a new accounting program

As you can imagine I would be very happy with any of these options, as long as one of them worked and I could get at my data!

My friend has tried to get it working again on my system, but with no success.

My attempts to resolve the problem have been as follows:

• I have installed the program on my sister's laptop, and got it working.
• I have then copied the .sbd and .sbl files into the relevant folder (I think it is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data).
• I attached the company data using Data Tools.
• I then rebuilt the company using Data Tools, creating a new .sbc file.

At different stages of the process it has given me different error messages, and the one that I am now receiving is that the program can't open the Company data because it was created on a later program (does this mean a later version of Microsoft Accounting Express 2009?).

Just so that you know, I have tried contacting technical support about this issue. A company called Mamut have taken over this responsibility from Microsoft, but so far I have not heard anything back from them. It is a discontinued product and so I am not too sure how much help they will offer me.

If anybody knows what I am talking about and can give me some help it would be very much appreciated!

 

[larrypaul]

For this issue whether its a discontined product or not definitely the technical customer support would respond if not through mail then just call them and ask for assistance.. I am confident enough your issue would be resolved..

 

[Samir]

There's various firms out there that can help with this type of problem. They aren't cheap though, but it sounds like it would be worth it for you to get back up and running.

The next thing I would do once you have your data is to figure out what you can migrate to that is more stable. I know there are caveats and advantages to running older software (I still use qb 1.0 for dos), but if your business depends on it, you have to have a reliable platform. There are several open-source platforms and other paid platforms other than quickbooks now, so the choices are plenty. Find what works for you.

If you truly want to stay on MS Acct Express 2009, here's what I would do. Set up a dedicated computer that will run only that program and nothing else. Do not let it get updates from microsoft and disconnect it from the Internet. This should keep the system stable enough to work for years. Also, be sure to back it up regularly.