Corrupt Data Recovery/Repairing

Database corruption is often the result of a user improperly disconnecting from a database. When tables are frequently flying around the network, you're leaving a pretty massive window for this kind of error. And when Access gets mad at somebody disconnecting without first closing the connection properly, it takes it out on everyone. When one user makes a "mistake," everybody else is either kicked out or, worse, begins receiving corrupted data.

Corruption happens when a user unexpectedly quits the application without closing the connection "gracefully." This can be caused by a power outage or a crash that forces a reboot of the PC (such as a Blue Screen of Death). It can also be caused by having to force Access out of the PCs' memory, when it crashes or freezes. And Access, even in its most recent version, is not 100 percent reliable (especially for those who like to match version numbers and run it under Windows 2000 it seems). Even more likely to cause corruption, however, is when your server bites the dust. If a user leaves a connection to the database open, then we're only talking in terms of one connection; if multiple users are working on the database and the server crashes, and then multiply your chances of getting a corrupt database by the number of users.

You would not expect a server to crash as regularly as a workstation, but if you use Windows, a server crash is probably on the horizon. If the server doesn't crash, you have still got failed disks, controllers, and other hardware components inside the server although Access corruption will be the least of your woes if your server fails.

Reasons for Corrupted Data:

There are many reasons for the occurrence of extended power outages, ranging from a local transformer failure due to lightning, or a regional power grid going offline. Steps must be taken to protect computer systems and the data they store from the corrupting effects of a hard shutdown. One cause of potential data corruption in the event of an extended power outage is abnormal termination of applications or the operating system while manipulating data. This can affect documents, critical file system structures (such as File Allocation Tables), or dynamic application data, and in many cases can also lead to increased "time-to-recovery" when power returns, as the operating system or application attempts to rebuild corrupted tables, etc.