Hi,

I'm helping a friend who just installed windows 2000. They use (I believe) Filemaker 5 (could be different.) A few weeks ago, she had a big crash and had to have her hard drive replaced. She reinstalled Filemaker and put in her database. Yesterday, inexplicably, the database showed no info and a window came up saying that the file named "related" was corrupted. I know related is where she stores all her data. I copied the "related" file she had on her backup disk and it worked fine...for a while. Then it come up as corrupted again. A couple of other windows systems errors happen. I thought this was most likely a problem with her drive again or with windows. Is there anyway a file can just become corrupted? Just wanted to clarify that it most likely ISN'T the filemaker files. Also, does she need to upgrade to be more compatible with windows 2000?

Have you tried a Restore ?

Yes, a file can become corrupted, specially after a system crash or brutal application quit.

It happened again to me a few weeks ago, right after downloading a FM demo here which included a "Quit application" script.

BTW, for those who post samplers here, please don't use this script in your demos.

I shouldnt have looked at this demo with my solution opened I know, but...

Yes--she tried a restore twice and it still didn't read the file. They only way the file could be read was by copying it from the zip onto the drive and trashing the old files and restored files. I'm basically a mac person, so it seemed to me to be either a hard drive or a window's thing. Her Filemaker never crashed.

Shouldn't a scripted Quit Application be just as gentle as a manual one? I have a solution with a quit application step. And I've never had a corruption problem in two years of daily use. (Sound of me knocking on wood)

If the file you run the script from is the only one open, it doesn't seem to be much of a problem. If more than one file is open, it's like clicking the X for the application and ripping FileMaker out from under the databases. They usually won't perform their on close scripts and they come back up with consistency checks, yuck.

Lisa, another thing you might check is whether or not the backup copy is available to FM upon opening. I've seen FM do strange things when looking for files; if you have File.fp5 in, say, C:My Documents and also in D:Backups, there is a possibility FM might look to the D:Backups instance of the file. You might try just changing the extension on the backup file if needs be.

FWIW...

Jerry

Thanks Quin. I actually tried that and also restarted completely with nothing in the zip or any other drive. It's just bizarre. It's a freshly installed copy of Filemaker. I'm a mac person and in the mac universe, problems like this usually mean drive problems--b catalog issues, along that line, or fragmented discs. We tried to run Norton from the CD and came up with problems as well. Another strange thing--I had created a bunch of labels for her company in Filemaker and they were printing out great for a few years, lined up perfectly, etc. Now, all of a sudden, they're not lined up correctly. It's like everything is slightly off. I did replace all the files with originals from the backup disc. When replaced, they initially run ok, then seem to get corrupted again. I'm pretty sure it's a drive or Windows problem. Just wanted to rule out any potential Filemaker issues.

Sorry i couldn't help. As an aside to your aside regarding printing, we've found some issues with FM6 and PCL6-based drivers. If there's any way you can try printing with a PCL5 driver, that MAY address the alignment issue on the labels.

I click the X to quit FM6 all the time with my multi-file solution open. Never had a problem. Maybe it's because the files are on FMS 5.5. (Although the opener files are on the PCs, and they've never displayed a consistency check message or gotten corrupted)

When the files are being hosted via Server, then I don't think there's much concern. I was referring to when files are being hosted by an individual user. The files aren't really closed on the server when a guest closes, so it's not a problem.

Your opener files may be performing consistency checks, but they are usually so small and devoid of data that it takes milliseconds to perform. Blink and you'll probably miss the warning.

I would caution you not to use the X, however, when you're working on the files in single-user, unless you want to do it just for fun to see what gets trashed.