System crashed in the middle of an MDB compaction

[Midwest Muskie]

I'm trying to help out a friend of mine who had his system lock up while he
was performing a database compaction. After he rebooted and opened Access,
the MDB file was missing and there was a COM in it's place. If he selects
All File Types, he is able to open the COM file. What should he do to
recover from where he is at now?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Immanuel Sibero]

Hi,

- Backup the database first
- Create a new blank database
- Try to import all objects to the new database from the sick database.

See if this works.

HTH,
Immanuel Sibero

 

[Midwest Muskie]

Since there is no MDB file to backup, are you talking about the COM file? It
appears that something happened to the original MDB file during the
compaction and subsequent system crash. The user says there is no MDB file
any longer only a COM file with the same name as the original database. He
seems to be able to open the COM file. I will check to see if he can make a
backup of it after he opens it.

Thanks for your prompt posting.

 

[Tony Toews]

I'm trying to help out a friend of mine who had his system lock up while he
was performing a database compaction. After he rebooted and opened Access,
the MDB file was missing and there was a COM in it's place. If he selects
All File Types, he is able to open the COM file. What should he do to
recover from where he is at now?

For Access to rename an MDB to any other extension during the
compaction process is very, very strange.

Nevertheless if you rename the file so it has an MDB instead of COM
and it works then oh well.

I'd make a copy of the file and try compacting it again. Immanuel
has given you the basic things to try to clean up the MDB.

But for more information on retrieving your data, among other things,
see the Microsoft Access Corruption FAQ at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/corruptmdbs.htm

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Midwest Muskie]

Thanks, Tony,
The user phoned in this morning from a road trip and I haven't had a
chance to actually look at his computer. I also found it strange that the
MDB file had apparently disappeared. I should have a chance to look at it
during the weekend. I am not an Access "guru" by any means. Can you explain
what normally happens during a database compaction process? He is running
Access 97 SR2.

Thanks

 

[Tony Toews]

Can you explain
what normally happens during a database compaction process?

Access locks Data.mdb. Access creates db1.mdb and copies data table
by table and such from data.mdb to db1.mdb. If successful Access
deletes data.mdb and renames db1.mdb to data.mdb. If db1 already
exists then Access creates db2.mdb and so forth.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Midwest Muskie]

Thanks for the explanation, Tom. The friend with the problem discovered that
he had a good backup that was only a few days old. He was able to load the
backup and bring it up-to-date.