Before backing up your QuickBooks company file on a Mac computer, configure the program's backup preferences to designate a save location and security password for the backup file.

A QuickBooks file that's set to read-only will open in QuickBooks but you won't be able to edit it. Often files appear as read-only because of the type of media they are stored on.

I have a friend with a dead laptop containing all of the Quickbooks data for her company, and no backups since April*. I've successfully copied the entire contents of the hard drive to my PC, so ...