Best way to rebuild database?

[Julian K]

Hey everyone,

I've looked around on the net and forums, and wasn't able to find a solution to my problem, so bare with me if it's a simple solution.

I've got a file that become corrupted (improperly closed), and has since been crashing. I ran recover, compacted, re-created various layout elements, and it seemed to work well, for a while. Now it's crashing again.

I'd like to know what the best way to rebuild the database is. I've seen recommendations to build it from scratch, and am ready to do so, but does this mean re-creating every element, or opening a new file and importing the data and copy/pasting into the new file? To what degree would corrupted layout stuff be copied over to the new file? Is the best way to start completely from scratch, creating everything manually? I don't have any good backups, as I only found out that backing up was a good idea after this whole fiasco

Thanks for any recommendations, or if you have links to any resources, it's much appreciated.

[HunterBoss]

Julian

I've been having the same problems this week. A file that was working without any issues is now crashing several times a day.

I thought I'd found a way around that. I made a clone and then started importing into the clone. For about a day I had a nice clean fast database. Now it's crashing again. I'm still in the building phase, so I'm adding fields and calculations and indexing, etc.

I'm going to try the recovery option and see if that helps.

Anyone else out there got any ideas?

Oh, I'm on a brand new Mac Pro running the latest version of 11

thanks

Christopher

[Kris M]

I'm sure this has been said many many times.

The only 100% guaranteed way to cure corruption is to create new empty files and rebuild the solution from scratch. Do not copy, paste, or import anything even with clip manager or the like. No scripts, graphics, cf's... nothing means nothing.

[Vaughan]

Invest some time working out why the files are becoming corrupted. FMP databases just don't go bad.

Don't run the files from a network shared volume. Always have them on a local hard disk, or running in FM Server (or FMP as peer-to-peer).

If running in FMS, don't use a wireless network.

[Kris M]

Excellent suggestion.. root cause analysis leading to preventive action

[Julian K]

Thanks Kris,

that's the info I was looking for.

It is in fact hosted on a shared drive. It became corrupted, I suspect, after being force-quit.

Currently having it there is the only solution, until we either upgrade to FM Server, move the tables to MySQL, or get more licenses (limited budget). Either that, or descending back into the chaos of excel.

Thanks guys,

-Julian

[Kris M]

Vaughan gets the credit for the save...

[HunterBoss]

um, I'm missing something

how do you rebuild the database from an empty file if you can't import?

[Vaughan]

Data can be imported.

It's the structure that the corruption often hides in: the field, tables, scripts and layouts.

[Rich S]

I've pretty much run into the same problem: The same master file I've been using since FMPA 10.x--which has survived multiple crashes (force-closed and otherwise), two version upgrades, and thousands of hours of reprogramming work has begun exhibiting erratic behavior that I just can't nail down as to the cause, so I'm going to have to rebuild it from scratch. Ugh. With hundreds of fields and scripts, conditional formatting and script parameters everywhere, and carefully created graphics and artwork, it's going to take at least half a year. *heavy sigh* At least it'll keep me off the streets of Austin...which, when you think about it, isn't such a bad thing after all.

[Kris M]

Best practice is to create a clone after each development iteration that way if corruption does happen in the production file you have a stable file to use