MS Updates causing bloat???

[JasonMann1979]

Hey guys,
I have a database that my company has been using for years. I keep a backup of the database every time I make a revision. I make revisions almost daily (at least weekly) so I have several back ups saved. In mid October 2013 my co-worker and I started noticing our databases (front and back ends) have both started to bloat at an alarming rate. We know it's not our code because we have ran older versions prior to the mid October date that never bloated like this and they too bloat now. Also, nothing has changed in our back end and it bloats now. We also have another large database on the same server and it too has began to bloat and we haven't changed it at all. Looking in the server updates, we found several updates were pushed through on 10/13 and on 10/15. We uninstalled a few that pertained to Access and MS Office, but we are still seeing the bloating. We also have a Mexico plant that runs nearly the same Access database, but it resides on their own server and their server has not had the updates installed and they are not experiencing the bloat.



What do you guys think? Has anyone heard of this? We'll be at 2gb in 2 days and then we'll have major problems. Think an update from 2010 to 2013 would help??

[June7]

First, try running Compact and Repair on frontend and backend. See if bloating resumes.

[JasonMann1979]

I'm sorry, I should have stated that. We've compacted/repaired numerous times. If we don't, the front end grows 1gb a day and the back end grows 1gb in 4 days.

[June7]

No, I have not encountered that yet but we are just starting upgrade to Office 2010.

I think your next step is to try a complete uninstall/reinstall of 2010

[ItsMe]

I have no idea what is going on. If this was happening to me, I would be looking at the copies of the FE files. I would compare the system tables between the different dates. I am having a hard time imagining why an FE file is growing in size. Maybe you can see a growing number of records in the system tables.

[KathyL]

We're using Access 2007, and you've seen my other thread on the same subject. I never found a solution. I have since developed external databases to run some of the large queries, and I store some large tables connected with these queries in a separate database, and I use links. I also have developed a scheduler to fire off some of these processes during the night, and although our plant runs 24/5, there are times at night that the database compacts, every night. I have an activity timer which logs people out after a half hour.

[June7]

Boo! An appropriate thread, along with KathyL's, for Halloween. I am truly frightened. We all have to be on 2010 by March next year. Right now only two users out of a dozen are on 2010, everyone else on 2007, all 32-bit machines and 32-bit Access. No problems yet.

[Dal Jeanis]

Hmmm. Okay, the front end is bloating 4 times the speed of backend. Argues that your bloating is due to queries rather than table updates. But, your users can't be sharing a front end, so your front end bloating should vary widely between users.

If C&R is releasing the bloat, then it's possible you have code that is tying up disk space... perhaps creating recordsets and not explicitly releasing them... and that MS (or some system option) has accidentally turned off garbage collection.

See if you can identify any process (form, query or report) that is definitely causing bloat. To get a gig a day, it would almost have to be everything you do.

So, after finding out whose FE bloats fastest, and finding out what they do with the FE, take a junk copy of your frontend, and run one form or query or report at a time for a few dozen iterations. See if any bloat occurs. When you find one that definitely causes bloat, check the code and see if it's creating any objects that it's not explicitly deleting.

Obviously, before you do all that, you should ensure that you are on the latest update for Access 2010.

And, not just no, but H-LL no, regarding upgrading from 2010 to 2013 just because something is screwy with your system. The problem is not Access 2010, the problem is how Access 2010 is working on your current system right now.


Heh heh. Another just-for-fun diagnostic. Create an mdb database with similar functionality and see if IT bloats. Either answer tells you something. What, I have'nt a clue.