Wednesday, November 11, 2009

MDB file corruption due to Interrupted Write Operations

A normal MS Access database user opens and closes its database file (MDB) various times in a single day. Alterations, such as, updation, addition, and deletion in database files are performed to fulfill all the personal or professional requirements. Since, the database is opened and closed numerous times, the probability of improper shutdown always persists. In most cases of unexpected shutdown (manually turning of the system), the Jet database write operation is interrupted. The Jet database engine sets a flag while beginning a write operation, and resets the flag when the operation is complete. However, if the database engine write operation is interrupted, the flag remains set and when you attempt to start your database, Jet reports that your database has been corrupted. To overcome such corruption situations, a valid database backup enables you to restore the data. However, if no backup is available or backup falls short to restore the required data, then you will need to use advanced access recovery application.

As a practical case, you accidentally perform improper system shutdown of your system when some write operation was being executed. However, when you restart your system and attempt to mount your database, you receive an error message stating that your database has been corrupted. Furthermore, the records stored in your database become inaccessible. To access the records after database corruption, you will need to repair the database using the underneath steps:

Select “Database Utilities” on the Tools menu
Click on Compact and Repair Database.
Search for the database file in the ‘Database to Compact From’ dialog box
Click on Compact.
Choose a new folder destination for the new file in the ‘Compact Database Into’ dialog box.
Provide a unique, valid, and new name for the database file
Click on Save.

If the repair utility is unable to repair your corrupted database, then you will need to opt for third-party repair access file application. Such Access Repair applications employ powerful scanning methods to recover lost Access database recovery components and repair corrupt MS Access database.

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