We have a local server in our office set up on our network where we store our database files. If I open an FMP file and attempt to import records from an .xls file or a .dbf file, I get a message that all the records were skipped. Further, if I then try to create a new record in that file, I get an error that says:

"There is not enough room on the disk to complete this operation. Make more room on the disk, then try again."

The server is definitely not full.

The strange thing is, if I open the FMP file and create a new record *before* I try the import, everything works fine. This is something that's plagued me for over a year, and luckily there's a workaround, but does anyone have any ideas about this? If the database file is stored on my hard drive, the issue doesn't happen, but obviously transferring the files back and forth makes no sense.

It sounds like you may be trying to store and access your databases from a network volume (via file sharing). This is not advisable as it's a common cause of corruption.

For hosting databases, there should be one machine dedicated as the host. This machine can host files using FileMaker Pro (up to 5 clients) or FileMaker Server (up to 250 clients). Any OS sharing should be turned off on the host computer. Clients can then access hosted files via FileMaker's File->Open Remote command.

Unfortunately, that is not possible as our server is a Linux machine and thus cannot run FileMaker. I do understand about corruption...however, why would the process work if I've created a new record, but not work if I haven't?

I don't know. I'd simply say: Don't open files on a network shared drive. It's not meant to be run that way.