[GNC] Fwd: All data gone

[David Cousens]

Jens ,
If you want to run GnuCash on multiple computers it is often easier to use a cloud syncing service like dropbox and
share the GnuCash files to both machines via dropbox.  If you only require to shar it over a LAN then a network storage
device linked to both computers works as well but you need some network skills to set it up.  I have shared my files
between 3-4 computers using dropbox without any problems for well over 10 years.



On Thu, 2026-03-05 at 22:46 +0000, Jens Ingemann Jensen wrote:
> David,
> What I did was to take the USB stick on which I had saved the GNC file, plugged it into my MacBook, and then opened
> GNC.  It said it could not find the usual file, so I went to "File" → "Open" clicked on the file on the USB
> stick, and it opened a file with the standard expense categories and zero balances and telling me it was "read only". 
> Then I went back to my iMac and now when I opened GNC the same happened.  Both computers run GNC 5.1
> There was a second USB drive plugged into the iMac of which I had been unaware, and it turned out that the files had
> been saved there too, but trying to open them from there resulted in the same scenario.
> This all happened on the 15th, and today I plugged in only the second USB stick on my iMac, and I was able to find a
> file with a time stamp from the 13th on this drive.  I opened GNC and opened this file via the file menu.  It opened
> and came up with all the missing information.  Miracle.  The first USB stick did not have any files with time stamps
> earlier than the 15th.  Now I am leary of trying again to run GNC on two computers, but I will try to copy that good
> file onto a third USB stick and see if it will open on the MacBook.  I travel a bit, therefore the desire to run it on
> two computers, so I can stay on top of my finances.
> Even if I got my data back, I am still curious what I did wrong.
> Thank you to everyone who has tried to help.
> Jens
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Mar 5, 2026 4:19 AM
> To: tommy.trussell at gmail.com <tommy.trussell at gmail.com>, Jens Ingemann Jensen <ingemann at mindspring.com>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Fwd: All data gone
> 
>  
> Jens,
>  
> Can you clarify for me: you say you copied the file to usb and it wouldn't load on the new machine. Did you copy this
> file from the USB stick onto the new machine? Or did you try to load the data file directly from the USB stick?
>  
> What happens if you copy the file to your Documents folder on the new machine?
>  
> What about the original file on the older machine? Does that still load?
>  
> David T.
>  
> 
> On Thursday, March 5, 2026 at 09:33:10 AM GMT+5:30, Jens Ingemann Jensen <ingemann at mindspring.com> wrote:
>  
>  
> I have found all the replies on Gnucash-user, but I have not yet solved the problem.  I did open GnuCash, went to
> ”Files” → “Open” and found one of the files to open but it did not change anything. 
> Previously when I opened GNC it also came up with the filename and asked if it should open it, which went fine all the
> time.  I never tried to open GNC by doubeclickeing on a file.  As said I wanted to use GNC on both my Intel silicon
> (desktop) and Mac silicon (laptop) computers running McaOS 13.7.8 and 26.3 respectively.  GNC on my laptop is vs. 5.10
> and 5.14 on the desktop.
> I still hope to find a way to get my data back.
> Kind regards
> Jens
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