Normalize a flat database

[worldwidewall]

Hi

I am using access 2000.

I have a flat database with about 8 million records. I need to normalize it. There are 5 fields each of which has many duplicates which I need to eliminate once it is normalized. Does anyone know how I might accomplish this?

Each row in the flat database is unique.

Thanks

[worldwidewall]

The ultimate goal is to make searching the database faster. Since every row in the flat database in unique will normalizing really make searching faster?

[AcsDb]

First decide which fields have the most duplicates in them / next clean up the data in those fields to get rid of variations of same values / then you can use built-in Access tools to split the table into a set of relational tables (access will take care of the primary/foreign key thing for you)

[worldwidewall]

Hi

Thanks for your response. I am not sure I follow 100%. Each row in the flat database is unique so how do I remove duplicates from the field that has the most duplicates?

[Access_Blaster]

You keep referring to the rows as being unique. I am more concerned with the columns. What is in your fields? You say you have five fields, can you list them and their type? Is there a primary key? What program created this DB.

Hi

Thanks for your response. I am not sure I follow 100%. Each row in the flat database is unique so how do I remove duplicates from the field that has the most duplicates?

[tanvi]

Hi

I am using access 2000.

I have a flat database with about 8 million records. I need to normalize it. There are 5 fields each of which has many duplicates which I need to eliminate once it is normalized. Does anyone know how I might accomplish this?

Each row in the flat database is unique.

Thanks

Check this article, it has good example of normalization process with suitable examples: http://www.fabalou.com/Access/General/Normalization.asp