Password should be required to create new database

[Heidi]

Has anyone heard of this problem and is there a solution?

We had an accident in our office today and lost all the data in our main database because an inexperienced employee accidentally "replaced" our existing database thinking she was "opening" it. She accidentally chose "New Database" from the File Menu instead of "Open." These two options are right next to each other in the File Menu.

Our computer expert says that Filemaker Pro does not have a way to stop a user from creating a new database because it's not seen as a security problem. But that is a weak spot in my opinion. And I'm suffering because I haven't been doing backups and I've lost 3 months worth of data!

Here are the details of what happened:

An employee who is not very experienced thought she was "opening" a database when she went to the File Menu (from within Filemaker Pro) and chose "New Database" (instead of the next option down which is "Open Database").

The dialogue box that popped up looks just like the "open database" box but really it was the "create new database" box. By default it showed all our existing databases in their little folder.

She double clicked on the one she wanted to open and the dialogue box said "Such-and-such database already exists. Do you want to replace it?" and she clicked YES thereby overwriting the existing database by creating a new empty database with the same name!

I find it hard to believe that a database can be wiped out so easily but it's true: the data is GONE!

Has anyone heard of this happening and know of a solution? Where is my data? Can it be recovered? I already tried the "recover" option but it merely recovered the new empty database.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Also, do you think I should inform Filemaker Inc. about this weak spot? This must have happened to others in the past.

Thank you in advance for your time

~Heidi

[Lee Smith]

Hi Heidi,

I wasn't going to comment on your data loss, until I saw that you had double posted your problem here. Please don't double post in the Forum. Think of the Forum as one list with several areas of interest (or topics). You the poster are expected to read the topic descriptions, and then try and determine which areas comes the closes to your question. It really doesn't matter if you miss the topic area, we will still supply answers to your question (provided there is one).

AFAIK, your data it gone, and you will have to create everything from scratch, unless of course you have been in the practice of backing up your files regularly, in which case just copy the backup into your folder and impute the missing since the last backup.

It might be worth a shot to try and recover it through a utility such as Norton, or Techtool, but I wouldn't count on it. If you want to try this, do it quickly before anything else gets written to the disk. Between you and I, I think you would have been better off if they had put the file in trash, and emptied the trash.

I wouldn't waste my time contacting FMI, you have just learned a very hard lesson about computers. Murphy's Law, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, the only variable is in the timing. Usually that happens when you are least prepared for it.

So the lesson is. Backup your files regularly. You should always have a clean and current backup of your files. Institute procedures to prevent this type of preventable loss of data from happening in the future. Training is an area that this person needs to start with first.

Anyone that can click there way through a warning like this, needs to be severely reprimanded and participate in the re impute of the missing data.

HTH

Lee

[Ken Newell]

You do have control over creation of new databases. I'm not sure with what version but there is installer config file that indicates if the user can create a new database. The downside is that I believe (not 100% certain) that if you want to change that it would require a new installation of FMP. Have not used it so you will need to dig a little to find it or hopefully someone else can add their 2 cents. Another option is the use of SecureFM or other plug-in to remove that option which can be controled by the developer.

[Heidi]

Hi Lee, thank you so much for taking time to give me your advice, but I have to tease you for reprimanding me for posting twice: it got you to reply! heehee

But okay, I won't do it again!

Anyway, you are right about the training: we don't always train people properly before we let them use the computers. But I just assumed that everyone knows the basics of how Windows works. She didn't accidently choose the "create new database" option, she actually thought that was how you opened a database!

And you're right about back ups: I've learned my lesson!

I did call FM and they said the same thing you did: the data is gone!

I do think Windows should give an extra (or more scary) warning when it is about to replace a file.

Anyway, thanks again for your response. btw, what does AFAIK mean?

[Heidi]

oops, sorry Ken. I got distracted for a couple hours while writing my last post and you slipped in there. Thanks for your input, I'll pass it on to my computer guy.

[stanley]

Heidi:

AFAIK = As Far As I Know

HTH

-Stanley

[Heidi]

okay, I can't resist...

HTH?

[Heidi]

oh! Hope That Helps!

NSDMIHDTE

[Lee Smith]

it got you to reply! heehee

Very true.

AND something good also came out of it. Everyone who has read both posts can now see what confusion it causes, the extra work to read both posts, and how it invited duplicate answers.

Lastly,

I would also venture to say that this type of problem has happened to each and everyone of us on this list at sometime in our career.

[Reed]

One other possibility to prevent this in the future would be to host the files on one computer with FMP or server, allowing no one else physical access to that computer and then create an account on that database that only allows operations that you are comfortable giving untrained users. (i.e. only create records, print etc... no deletion of records or modification.) Of course none of this is a replacement for frequent automated backups, which is the main (only) reason I use server for a simple 5 client setup.