Old computer and quick books

[Hay hay hay]

Question for you computer guys.

I have a new i5 laptop computer with windows 10, and use it for 99% of my needs. But I also have an accounting program ?Quick books 2009? on a 10-year-old lap top running Windows Vista that works very well for my farm/business. Reading reviews on the new versions of QB say that it is much more complicated and requires annual and very expensive updates. So, I want to use the old computer and the old QB program for accounting needs. I don't think my QB2009 can run on windows 10.
So, here is what I want to do. A) the fans are noisy in the old computer, but the hard drive works well. I plan to have a professional computer service clean or replace the fans. B) to safeguard my data and programs, I want to copy or ?clone? the old hard drive with a new external hard drive. Is this difficult to do, and should I have the professionals do that too? If I clone it and the old hard drive fails can I then run the programs from the external hard drive?

 

[1948CaseVAI]

Depends on a njmber of things, but unless you have the installation disks it may be a problem. If you have the installation disks then install the program to the external and you will get all the pieces and parts you need to make it run. Unlike 30 years ago there is way more to a Windoze program than a single executable file.

If you get a genuine clone of the original drive then you can probably get away with it but may have trouble with pathing. The best would be to install the clone as the original drive was installed so the pathing would stay the same. Otherwise there may be ini files that it cannot find or registry entries not found, etc.

You would be safer and time ahead to simply bite the bullet and upgrade.

 

[Chuckles46]

I would remove the hard drive from the old laptop and get a kit to make it an external
hard drive. they are not expensive.you should be able to opewn and run your files from that on your newer computer. If it doesn't work you wouldn't be out much

 

[kcm.MN]

There "might" be another option. I know it's possible to set up an Operating System (Sich as Linux, Windows 7, etc) to run on a computer with different OS, such as Windows 10. You could probably set up a bootable flash drive with Windows Vista, then boot your new PC using the flash drive. It will then be running Windows Vista, and your hard drive will depend on how much space is available on the flash drive. Could also set it up from a portable hard drive. You'd have the OS you're used to, but the speed of the new machine and processor.

Again, don't know if it would work, but might be worth looking into. Do a web search for "bootable flash drive". Here's a site that talks about using Windows Vista:
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001366.htm

 

[Janicholson]

Partitioning a Terabyte drive (in the new computer as an added drive) can be set up to boot Vista, or the latest operating system that will run your QB version. You might also look at a later used copy of the QB program to be as up dated as possible. Jim

 

[Ohio88]

We ran 2009 Quicken on Windows 10. Also there is a 2016 version on eBay for $16.

 

[GordoSD]

Is your "quick books in fact "Quicken"?

 

[Duner Wi]

I believe what you propose is entirely doable. You could have problems with Microsoft if your mother board failed on your old computer. Msft does not get excited if you add a hard drive or replace a hard drive.
I would not have Vista internet enabled tho. Here is an article that may be of help.
https://www.pcmag.com/feature/363387/how-to-clone-a-hard-drive

 

[Hay hay hay]

No, it is Quick Books Pro 2009.

Works well, I do not use all the features of it. Do not use it to write checks, no need for credit card or monthly billing functions.
But it lets me categorize expenses, do year to year expense comparisons, track expenses by vendor, and instantly produce a P&L statement.

 

[Hay hay hay]

Have any of you had experience with having the fans cleaned or replaced? Did it work?

 

[Andy Wickiser]

Dirty/noisy/slow/stopped fans are a routine failure on old computers. Many of the fans were cheap with simple bronze sleeve bearings which would get gummed up over the years with thickened lube combined with dust particles. Replacing the fan or even a whole power supply is no big deal. For the people who are ambitious and cheap dissasembling the fan and cleaning the bearing shaft and bore usually works, but not as well as just replacing the fan or power supply.

 

[chuck2015]

(quoted from post at 08:18:09 04/12/19) Question for you computer guys.

I have a new i5 laptop computer with windows 10, and use it for 99% of my needs. But I also have an accounting program ?Quick books 2009? on a 10-year-old lap top running Windows Vista that works very well for my farm/business. Reading reviews on the new versions of QB say that it is much more complicated and requires annual and very expensive updates. So, I want to use the old computer and the old QB program for accounting needs. I don't think my QB2009 can run on windows 10.
So, here is what I want to do. A) the fans are noisy in the old computer, but the hard drive works well. I plan to have a professional computer service clean or replace the fans. B) to safeguard my data and programs, I want to copy or ?clone? the old hard drive with a new external hard drive. Is this difficult to do, and should I have the professionals do that too? If I clone it and the old hard drive fails can I then run the programs from the external hard drive?

I would clone your current drive to an SSD drive, it will speed up the computer a lot, and keep the old drive as a backup drive. Also you can backup only the quickbooks program to a new drive only if you don;t want to spend the money on an SSD.

 

[circus]

In the same boat. Couldn't buy a new computer even if I wanted to. 20 years of my obsolete formatted records would be gone. Not to mention the expensive suites.

 

[spacecadet9]

I agree with Andy and Chuck, but: Your old laptop probably has an external power brick so the only fan in the laptop is probably the cpu fan. It would be worth a try to clean and lube but finding a new replacement will probably be difficult, might try ebay for a used heatsink/fan assembly. You mentioned taking it to a shop and they shouldn't have a problem cloning the hd. A SSD (solid state drive) will actually speed up your computer and the prices of them has dropped dramatically if your old laptop uses the newer SATA interface and not the older IDE.

 

[David G]

QB does not require an annual subscription, why not just buy the new QB and be done with it?

I update mine about every 3 years.

 

[MarkB_MI]

The most important thing is to back up your data. You can do that with an online service, or just copy all the files to a USB memory stick. Then, if your hard disk crashes, you will have copies to save to a new computer (which will presumably have an up-to-date operating system and current version of Quickbooks).

Cloning has its place, but it's really not a suitable replacement for backing up your files. You don't want to re-clone your hard disk every time you modify your working files.