Repairing Corrupt Microsoft Access Databases

Microsoft Access is a very popular local database. A local database is a database that is accessed directly through the machine or network file system. Like all local databases, Microsoft Access is more susceptible to table corruption than client/server databases like Microsoft SQL Server. This is because with local databases each client machine on a network file system can write directly to the database file. If any one of these machines is shut down improperly or crashes while writing to the file, the database file can get corrupted. Some databases minimize such corruption by using a separate file for each table, index and blob data. With these databases the corruption would be limited to only the table currently being written to. Access though stores all database objects within a single file. So when any one Access table is corrupted the entire database can be rendered unusable.

Database corruption sounds worse than it usually is. Usually with database corruption no loss of data occurs. Instead, the affected table just requires re-indexing. Most local databases come with a database repair function. In Microsoft Access databases can be repaired by selecting the Compact and Repair Database icon in the Database Tools tab.

CyberMatrix has a solution for scheduling Access databases repairing and compacting. This software is called AccCompact. Click here for more information on AccCompact.

Cimaware provides a utility called AccessFIX to not only repair Access table corruption but also recover deleted tables, queries and other database objects. Click this link for more information on AccessFIX.