Corrupt file crashes recovery tool

[Kiddson]

Hello there, nice board! Hope you can help, I've lost a 1200+ record database...

I don't know where to post that, sorry if it's in the wrong section!

After an unsollicited reboot, one of my FMP7 databases (that was open when the PC crashed) has been corrupted, FM tells me to recover it. But when I try, the whole thing just crashes too, I just end up with the stupid Windows error report.

Is there any way to save my data???

Config: WinXP SP2, FMP7, AthlonXP 2000+, 768Mb RAM, corrupt file definitely too big to be posted here (160 Mb!!!)

(could there be a compatibility issue with SP2?)

[Kiddson]

Well, I've eventually found a way to get round the problem...

As luck had it, I could synchronise an old version with the corrupt one, and thus have all the latest entries and modifications imported into a brand new and valid file!

Everything's here, not a single record is missing (not even the blank one I was creating when the PC crashed), well done. Many thanks, Filemaker! This is a clever and brilliant tool!!!

Just one strange thing: while the corrupt file is 160Mb, the new one is "only" 140Mb.

Anyway, hope this may help someone some day, I have to get back on track...

[LiveOak]

And have you learned any lessons about backup?

-bd

[Kiddson]

Oh, definitely, yes!

I've always done it at work, but never at home. Maybe now is the right moment to start...

However I didn't want to lose the work I had done during the few hours before the crash, it was some tedious correction and update work and I didn't know where the previous corrections had stopped, so I'd have had to recheck the whole file again. A backup from the day before wouldn't have spared me this chore. I had to prevail upon the Machine!

Thanks!

[LiveOak]

My personal favorite is to work several hours on a complicated script (with lots of good comments) for customer solution and then hang FM in an infinite loop or have some other app (I shouldn't have had open) crash the computer.

-bd