Learn How to Repair Damaged Access MDB Files

Microsoft Access typically provides sufficient notice to users when it suspects some damage to MDB files. This way you can take timely action and repair the MDB files to prevent any further corruption. There are two ways of going about this. Once Access suggests that you repair the database, you could run the Compact and Repair utilities provided by Microsoft Access to repair the file. Most minor cases of corruption in MDB files are quickly and easily handled by these handy utilities. Where these tools prove ineffective is when the MDB files are far too damaged and the only way you can recover MDB data is by using third-party tools that use advanced technology to scan and restore data.

Let us first look at the best ways of using the Compact and Repair utilities to repair damaged Access MDB files.

  1. You can use the Compact utility in the following manner:
    1. Close the Access database if you are working on it.
    2. Now from the main Tools menu, you can go to Database Utilities and then click on Compact Database. For many cases, this step alone should fix many of the problems that arise due to fragmentation or inefficient use of space in the database. Check if the database has been repaired or if you continue to get error messages. If the MDB file is still not fixed, you should then try repairing the database.
  2.  When the Microsoft Jet database engine gives you a message suggesting that the Repair tool should be run you should certainly use this tool to quickly address corruption issues in the MDB files and recover MDB data. You can use the Repair tool in the following manner:
    1. Close the Access database if you are working on it.
    2. Now again from the main Tools menu, you can go to the Database Utilities and then click on Repair. Once the process is complete and if the repair is successful, you will see the following message:
         'Successfully repaired the 'database_name' database'
    3. If the repair is not successful, you will see a message indicating that the file was not repaired.
  3. If the Access Repair tool is not successful in repairing the file then this is a certain indication that the MDB file is so severely damaged that the Repair tool cannot fix it or that the damage is of a nature that the Repair tool is not able to handle.
While the Compact and Repair tools are not able to repair seriously corrupted MDB files, sophisticated tools such as Advanced Access Repair from DataNumen are more than equipped to restore and recover MDB data from such files. They use advanced scanning and repair technologies that makes it possible for them to locate objects that traditional repair tools are not able to find. Further, they restore the data in the same structure as the original file ensuring that you suffer minimal data loss. Advanced Access Repair, in particular, offers a refund if you can recover more data using any other tool!