Corrupt database HELP

[jperez]

Can anyone tell me how or where I might find help recovering an FM3 db? FM does not support anything further back than one generation earlier than the most current version and my client is transitioning from FM3 to FM6.

My client still has quotes in FM3 and it went belly up Thursday last week. He does not have a backup and every time you attempt to open the DB an error stating

[Vaughan]

Now you know why backups are so important.

Run the Recover command over the file, then import the data into a clone of a known-good backup of the file. Do NOT put the recovered file back into use. Since you don't have a known-good backup, you'll have to re-create the file again from scratch.

Don't skimp on rebuilding the file again from scratch, like they have on doing backups.

[jperez]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've run the Recovery tool and was able to get it to a point were it would try to open. However, when the DB opens it chokes leaving me with the following message "File is damaged. Click Continue to continue using the file, or Click Exit to exit FileMaker."

FM's help says to keep clicking on the Continue until it opens other wise more damage will occur. I'm still clicking on Continue with no results.

I have a copy of an older backup which is about 12mb smaller than the corrupt version. An attempt was made to open the smaller db and import the larger but it choked.

More suggestions please,

Jaime

[Steve T.]

Hi, J! I doubt there'll be any difference but maybe FM v.4's recover will be better than FM v.3? The db formats are compatible so no upgrade would be necessary. Only 1 in a zillion chance but it's something else to try. Also, I'd recommend working from copies as much as possible so you can always go back to the original file if need be. Maybe a data recovery service can tell you if they have experience with FM.

--ST

[David McQueen]

Check the file size on the blown file. If I remember correctly the max is 32 Mb fro FMP 3-4. If you have exceeded this, from what I remember, it is not going to recover.