Unable to open database

[pryjda]

Now this is a really big problem,

I am unable to open a database that crashed a few days ago after a power failure. I have tried to restore the batabase for tape up to a week prior to the crash.

here is the message i'm receiveing

__________________________

The access privlidges in the file have been damaged or possible tampered with.

Please contact Filemker Technical Support if the Problem can not be resolved.

__________________________

Any advice would be appreciated very much

Thank you all in advance foryou help

pryjda

[Phillip Holmes]

The only things I can suggest is open the DB using FM Pro only and then reset all access privledges from there. Once you have reset the privledges and tested the DB re-host it via FM Server.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

The file was damaged before the crash. Do you have any clean clones of this file?

Steven

[pryjda]

Thank you for your interest in my post.

Unfortunately, all my backups were done using Filemaker Sever's backup utility and give me the same error. Then my Dbs were all backed up using Veritas Backup Exc. Going back several weeks, i still I am unable to open my Db.

My last hard save to a local workstation was made back on October 1st prior to some GUI changes. This works fine however 3 months of data entry has been lost.

I've tried to import records from my corrupt file with no success.

There has to be a way to fix it.

Thank you again for your interest.

pryjda

[pryjda]

Has anyone had any success with Filemaker's file recovery services?

I have never heard of it until recently and no one I know has ever used it.

[xochi]

Try using FM Advanced 8.5's file maintenance utilities (Compress, Optimize) along with the Recover file operation. Try all combinations of Recover, Compress, and Optimize, in all orders. I have on occasion found that Optimize before Recover works, when other ways of doing it fail.

8.5 has better recovery than 8, in my experience.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Try using FM Advanced 8.5's file maintenance utilities (Compress, Optimize) along with the Recover file operation. Try all combinations of Recover, Compress, and Optimize, in all orders. I have on occasion found that Optimize before Recover works, when other ways of doing it fail.

[color:red] No. No. And NO again. Never use the maintenance utilities on a file suspected of being damaged.

First thing is to save a copy as compressed. Save a copy from the file menu. If that doesn't work, a recover could be run to extract the data. All this points up the importance of keeping the clean clone.

See FMI Tech Info # 5594 and 5421

HTH

Steven

[pryjda]

Really do appreciate all of your guys help on this one but unfortunatly i am still unable to even open the file. Neither by the network or on a local machine.

I have not recived a any Solid help from FileMaker they want me to send in the file to take a look at but they say it may be 3 weeks before they even look at it. Plus no guarantees.

Does anyone else do this type of file restoration?

if so please help me to get in contact with them.

pryjda

[xochi]

[color:purple] No. No. And NO again. Never use the maintenance utilities on a file suspected of being damaged.

First thing is to save a copy as compressed. Save a copy from the file menu. If that doesn't work, a recover could be run to extract the data. All this points up the importance of keeping the clean clone.

Steven

Though your advice may be good in General, there are two things wrong with it in this specific case:

1. In some cases, using a different sequence of steps can result in recovery of a file that was not recoverable otherwise. If you choose to ignore this possibilty and give up, that's your own business I suppose, but I've seen it work first hand.

2. Also, because of "hidden corruption" there is no such thing as a "clean clone" -- any file that is ever opened can become corrupted, silently, and the corruption can show up later.

[xochi]

Really do appreciate all of your guys help on this one but unfortunatly i am still unable to even open the file. Neither by the network or on a local machine.

Can you be more specific? Have you tried opening the file in FM8? In FM8.5? On a Mac? On Windows? Have you tried hosting the file and opening it via FM Server 8? Have you tried bypassing the startup scripts (hold down Alt or Option key)?

Of course, make sure you are only trying these "hail mary" strategies on copies, not on the original file.