Database "corrupted"

[aat]

Hello,
I am quite new to access and learnt everything almost by myself; I have built a database with over 800 records so far and weighting 2gb (I put attached pdf documents to records for documentation).

While updating some records, i had a first bug when trying to upload a file tonight, with an error message "could not open database "". I don't mind, i cancel my upload, i save my record, i refresh my databse, locate the same record, retry the uplaod, and then it works.

A few records later, it does the same: "cannot open database "", the file may be in use or corrupt". I refresh, retry, doesn't work anymore. I close access, re-open, open my database, and ho surprise, no more records.

I start to panick because it took me a year to build this database and even with my last backup I would loose 100 records and to me it's a lot of work.

my file stills weight 2gb, but when opening with access, even after reboot, no trace of any record. I also did a "manage > repair", which generated a table called MsysCompactError, containing error codes -1022, -1611, -1206, and description such as "could not find field "description"", and even some chinese stuff in the column ErrorRecid: 瀀ª.



I'm quite keen on learning chinese but not on this occasion.

I tried the link allenbrowne shown on other posts but I'm speachless when trying to understand because I'm convinced my databse is not corrupt; the design is rather simple, and it has worked for almost one year without much problem!!! i didnot redesign anything recently, so I am clueless. I use it everyday, 10 hours a week, to add new records and update existing ones, so it's quite a routine work I was doing tonight.

Could anyone propose a magic trick to get me out of here???

Alternative question, would anyone know an opensource equivalent of access that would be more reliable and with possibility to add attachement to records? and easy to use for an amateur like me

thanks a lot

[aat]

sorry, the error message was more like "Cannot open database '|'. It may not be a database that your application recognizes, or the file may be corrupt."

it's not true, can't be corrupt !!!

[aat]

last indication: it said in the error report table in the last column (error table) "f_425E729309D84A668672AB4CEFDFBF2A_Attachment 2"

So probably one of my attachments of tonight is responsible for this; can I purge the recent attachments???

Thanks for your help

[pkstormy]

"my file stills weight 2gb, but when opening with access, even after reboot, no trace of any record. I also did a "manage > repair", which generated a table called MsysCompactError, containing error codes -1022, -1611, -1206, and description such as "could not find field "description"", and even some chinese stuff in the column ErrorRecid: 瀀ª."

Yes - the mdb is corrupt!

First thing I would try to do is export or import the data into a new mdb file. An error involving the MsysCompactError is not a good error and can often lead to data loss, including losing all the data if you don't have backups. I would definately try to focus on getting the data out of the mdb and into a new one.

A 2gig mdb size is desperately crying out to have the data be put on a server db such as SQL Server or MySQL. You're really tempting fate with an mdb with this size since this is the max size limit. Also make sure you have space on the drive the mdb is located. You'll need at least 2 gig of free space to try and compact/repair or fix the mdb. If you've run out of disk space, you may get lucky by freeing up some space and able to open the mdb.

If compacting/repairing the mdb doesn't help, you can also try opening the mdb using the /decompile parameter or try a utility called JetUtil (see code repository - I think I posted a copy of this utility there.)

Make sure to check your backups! If you don't have any, you could be in trouble. The errors you've indicated do not sound good for data recovery or fixing the mdb and there's not really many magic tricks on fixing it other than trying the above.

[pkstormy]

sorry, the error message was more like "Cannot open database '|'. It may not be a database that your application recognizes, or the file may be corrupt."

it's not true, can't be corrupt !!!

Sorry to say but yes - it is corrupt. This is a pretty clear sign that it is along with the other errors you've posted. I'd like to say that it's just a single record or set of records and deleting those would fix it but everything you've posted indicates otherwise.

Also, if you're storing the actual PDF documents into the table, for future reference, I would consider just storing the location of the pdf file and keep the pdf files on the drive and out of the table itself. These really tend to bloat an mdb.

[aat]

Thank you for your messages.

Can you kindly indicate me how to get to the decompile command?

thanks!

[pkstormy]

To use the /decompile option, you would click Start -> run

and then type in: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\MSAccess.exe " "C:\MyFolderName\MyMDBName.mdb" /decompile

Of course change the above folders/names to where your MSAccess.exe file and mdb is located.

See: https://www.accessforums.net/code-re...pile-8149.html

[aat]

Ok, I tried but access would not recognise my mdb file anyway.

thanks for the tips / suggestions and everything.