compact database

A

angie

i have compacted my database and i have noticed that the only difference is
in the size of the file. could this action harm or destroy data from my
database?

what if i do not compact the database?

pls help me understand the difference!
 
B

Brian

angie said:
i have compacted my database and i have noticed that the only difference is
in the size of the file. could this action harm or destroy data from my
database?

what if i do not compact the database?

pls help me understand the difference!
Click to expand...

If you do not compact your database it will get bigger and bigger!
Potentially it will also get slower and less reliable, but the extent to
which this is noticeable will depend on how heavily it's being used and what
for.

You should ALWAYS take a backup copy of a database BEFORE you compact it,
just in case the compact operation damages it.
 
J

John Vinson

i have compacted my database and i have noticed that the only difference is
in the size of the file. could this action harm or destroy data from my
database?
Click to expand...

It's been known to happen, rarely, so you should make a backup first.
Simply copy the .mdb file using Windows Explorer, at a time when you
can be certain that the database is NOT open. A good backup is
essential in any case; corruption can occur at any time.

But no, generally the data is not affected. A Compact recovers the
space occupied by deleted items (deleted records in tables, edited
records in tables, changed forms or reports, etc. etc.) which Access
does not clean up on its own.
what if i do not compact the database?
Click to expand...

It will get bigger and bigger, and slower and slower, until you hit
the 2 GByte limit or run out of disk and find that the database is now
unusable... perhaps permanently.


John W. Vinson[MVP]
Join the online Access Chats
Tuesday 11am EDT - Thursday 3:30pm EDT
http://community.compuserve.com/msdevapps
 
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