Well, there's no such thing as "tick data" from Interactive Brokers. If that were the case, your data would have the timestamps of the transactions as they came from the exchange and the volume of those transactions. It doesn't.
I am a esignal user and they provide tick data. When you download the data it is in a text file format. I wrote a small app to import this into SQL Server. MS Access, whatever your DB of choice of is to use with custom charting software I created. Esignal holds 10 days of tick data so if you are looking to go way back in history you are out of luck but you can start building from this point forward (provided you are a esignal customer).
SteveH is right, IB does not provide a stream of tickdata with timestamps. There are several threads on the IB-API-Forum on this subject e.g. http://www.interactivebrokers.com/cgi-bin/discus/board-auth.pl?file=/2/37364.html We use the system time of our computer as timestamp. So far the price-storage is a part of larger application, but we will make it a separate product, which will be available soon. The download of historical prices will be an additional option. If you want to be notified when it's ready send us an email.
In the light of the new API 9.2 just released by IB we have to correct our last post: IB now offers 5 sec realtime bars with High and Low and so the potential problem discussed so far of missing highs or lows while not getting all ticks could be eliminated. They also added timestamps.
The application we talked about in this forum earlier is now available (called Trinprice) from our website. It allows you to build up your own database from the price data you get through the IB-TWS. If you are an IB-customer and want to test your trading ideas with your own programs or in excel using historical or live data it might help you. Trinhof