Database Corruption & Repair

Without a database server, each copy of Microsoft Access works directly on the database file. If an interruption occurs during this process—such as a crash—the program may not have written all the changes it was working on, resulting in a database that contains errors and may not open. This issue was described in the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q303519, a reference from the early 2000s.

Note that many older KB articles, including this one, have been deprecated, and Microsoft’s modern documentation focuses on Azure, Power BI, and cloud solutions rather than legacy Access issues. While Access remains available, it is now considered a legacy tool primarily suited for small-scale or single-user applications.

The likelihood of a database becoming corrupt depends on several factors: the number of users, the type of updates, the chance of an interruption, and how the software writing to the database is structured.

Cynics would say that Microsoft benefits from this problem, as users are more likely to upgrade to SQL Server. This is almost certainly an exaggeration – the corruption problem is probably fundamental to the design of Access, and is unlikely to be fixed easily.

However, this is not to say that the situation hasn’t improved: Access 2000 certainly introduced features to help with data integrity, and this product is definitely better than Access 97.

Repairing Access databases can be difficult. Although Microsoft provide tools for compact and repair, these often fail to work. There are programs on the market that can help, but we have found that there is no single tool that will repair all types of database corruption. We individually assess each database and it’s problems before establishing the best route to repair and we find that this approach delivers much better results. We are also more capable than the repair tools of identifying potential record losses and therefore preventing loss of data.If you are having problems with your database, our database developers can repair it and help you to minimise the possibility of data corruption in the future.

See Also:​

• Choosing a Database Server
• How Upsizing Works
• Publishing a Database