Damaged/Corrupted DBF

I have a corrupted .dbf file that can not be opened. What are my best
options for getting this file repaired? The file does not have a .fpt
associated with it.

I know there are many utilities that can be purchased, but which one. I
can't believe Microsoft hasn't included a utility to repair damaged files
within VFP. I don't like the thought of paying $199 for a utility that I
almost never need.

I have this one client that seems to come up with a damaged file every six
months or so. Any clues of why this is happening? They are running the
application off of a Citrix server, meaning it is accessed via Citrix and
actually loaded on the Citrix server.

I have many apps that have been running for years and years without any
corruption? All my apps are running on file servers?

VFP9 / Windows XP

Dan
Thu Aug 10 10:58:59 CDT 2006

Tim Cairns wrote:
> I have a corrupted .dbf file that can not be opened. What are my best
> options for getting this file repaired? The file does not have a .fpt
> associated with it.
>
> I know there are many utilities that can be purchased, but which one.
> I can't believe Microsoft hasn't included a utility to repair damaged
> files within VFP. I don't like the thought of paying $199 for a
> utility that I almost never need.

But you'll gladly pay an extra $199 Foxpro for a utility you almost never
need? <g>

BAckup is really the best alternative, but you can also find some free stuff
at universalthread.com.

> I have this one client that seems to come up with a damaged file
> every six months or so. Any clues of why this is happening? They
> are running the application off of a Citrix server, meaning it is
> accessed via Citrix and actually loaded on the Citrix server.

The very vew times I've seen actual DBF corruption, it's been caused by
connectivity issues. The network hiccups, a router has a bad hair day, a
server needs its chips wiggled, a NIC is flaky, a drive controller is headed
south, whatever -- something leaving the workstation isn't properly making
it to the server's disk.

Also note that Citrix admins tend to be about as liberal as Atilla the Hun
when it comes to permissions. They'll have that box LOCKED DOWN to the point
it's actually difficult for their users to get their jobs done. You may have
to work closely with them, understanding going in that IT'S NEVER THEIR
FAULT. ::rolling eyes::

Can you tell what I've been doing a lot of the last few weeks? <g> Our
Citrix users who installed vanilla, with default settings across the board,
have no problems whatsoever. It's the ones that have to make it SECURE, and
can't tell us what they did because that would be a security breach, that
call reporting things like OLE errors because the MS common controls are not
installed.

Dan

Leemi
Thu Aug 10 11:04:08 CDT 2006

Hi Tim:

Try issuing a SET TABLEVALIDATE TO 0 and attempt to open the table.

Also, try opening the table using Excel. If it opens, try saving it has a
DBF file.

I hope this helps.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Sincerely,
Microsoft FoxPro Technical Support
Lee Mitchell

*-- VFP9 HAS ARRIVED!! --*
Read about all the new features of VFP9 here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/

*--Purchase VFP 9.0 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/PRODUCTS/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=54787e64-52
69-4500-8bf2-3f06689f4ab3&type=ovr

Keep an eye on the product lifecycle for Visual FoxPro here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex
- VFP5 Mainstream Support retired June 30th, 2003
- VFP6 Mainstream Support retired Sept. 30th, 2003

>I have a corrupted .dbf file that can not be opened. What are my best
>options for getting this file repaired? The file does not have a .fpt
>associated with it.

>I know there are many utilities that can be purchased, but which one. I
>can't believe Microsoft hasn't included a utility to repair damaged files
>within VFP. I don't like the thought of paying $199 for a utility that I
>almost never need.

>I have this one client that seems to come up with a damaged file every six
>months or so. Any clues of why this is happening? They are running the
>application off of a Citrix server, meaning it is accessed via Citrix and
>actually loaded on the Citrix server.

>I have many apps that have been running for years and years without any
>corruption? All my apps are running on file servers?

>VFP9 / Windows XP

Paul
Thu Aug 10 16:11:11 CDT 2006

"Tim Cairns" <tim.cairns@verizon.net> wrote in
news:YfHCg.85219$Lh4.50459@trnddc02:

> I have a corrupted .dbf file that can not be opened. What are my best
> options for getting this file repaired? The file does not have a .fpt
> associated with it.
>
> I know there are many utilities that can be purchased, but which one...

You can get a single user license of our Recover utility for only $86.
Royalty free $260. Repairs from FP2X to latest VFP9 tables.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Lee ........ Abri Technologies ........ http://www.abri.com/
'Recover' - top rated FoxPro file repair utility.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Paul
Thu Aug 10 16:13:47 CDT 2006

Leemi@online.microsoft.com (Lee Mitchell) wrote in
news:l0xhhaJvGHA.1992@TK2MSFTNGXA01.phx.gbl:

> Hi Tim:
>
> ........
> Also, try opening the table using Excel. If it opens, try saving it
> has a DBF file.......

Excel can really mess up Fox files - especially with memos.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Lee ........ Abri Technologies ........ http://www.abri.com/
'Recover' - top rated FoxPro file repair utility.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

BoudewijnLutgerink
Tue Aug 15 00:59:01 CDT 2006

"Tim Cairns" wrote:

> I have a corrupted .dbf file that can not be opened. What are my best
> options for getting this file repaired? The file does not have a .fpt
> associated with it.
>
> I know there are many utilities that can be purchased, but which one. I
> can't believe Microsoft hasn't included a utility to repair damaged files
> within VFP. I don't like the thought of paying $199 for a utility that I
> almost never need.
>
Google for "cmrepair". It's good, it's free and simple to use.

Mike
Tue Aug 15 03:02:02 CDT 2006

On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:13:47 -0700, Paul Lee <no@spam.please> wrote:

>Leemi@online.microsoft.com (Lee Mitchell) wrote in
>news:l0xhhaJvGHA.1992@TK2MSFTNGXA01.phx.gbl:
>
>> Hi Tim:
>>
>> ........
>> Also, try opening the table using Excel. If it opens, try saving it
>> has a DBF file.......
>
>Excel can really mess up Fox files - especially with memos.
>
Not half ! Far better to save it from Excel as a text file format.

Mike.

Leemi
Thu Aug 17 16:40:01 CDT 2006

Hi Tim and Paul:

Paul is right; you can't use Excel to open a table with a memo. However, I
have recovered many VFP tables without memo fields using Excel.

I hope this helps.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Sincerely,
Microsoft FoxPro Technical Support
Lee Mitchell

*-- VFP9 HAS ARRIVED!! --*
Read about all the new features of VFP9 here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/

*--Purchase VFP 9.0 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/PRODUCTS/info/product.aspx?view=22&pcid=54787e64-52
69-4500-8bf2-3f06689f4ab3&type=ovr

Keep an eye on the product lifecycle for Visual FoxPro here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex
- VFP5 Mainstream Support retired June 30th, 2003
- VFP6 Mainstream Support retired Sept. 30th, 2003


>Leemi@online.microsoft.com (Lee Mitchell) wrote in
>news:l0xhhaJvGHA.1992@TK2MSFTNGXA01.phx.gbl:

> Hi Tim:
>
> ........
> Also, try opening the table using Excel. If it opens, try saving it
> has a DBF file.......

>Excel can really mess up Fox files - especially with memos.

>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Paul Lee ........ Abri Technologies ........ http://www.abri.com/
> 'Recover' - top rated FoxPro file repair utility.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------

Paul
Tue Aug 22 10:54:59 CDT 2006

<BoudewijnLutgerink@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:4C66CD81-C57A-4C4E-B0B4-E833FA183687@microsoft.com:
> "Tim Cairns" wrote:
>>......I don't like the thought of paying $199
>> for a utility that I almost never need.
>>
> Google for "cmrepair". It's good, it's free and simple to use.

I decided to make a few comments regarding freebie repair tools.

Most of them will only do trivial header repair. True.. that is
a problem in many cases and that can be helpful. But some of them are
difficult to use and they do not find many other hidden problems.
After repair, the table may appear to work but may give unexpected
problems otherwise.

CMrepair in particular: It is a manual tool that requires you to
guess/know what should be in every piece of the file - you have to
make all the decisions. This is a difficult task for even myself and
an impossible task for endusers. It will not work with invalid memo
file in VFP9. The "recordscan" or "memoscan" is a manual procedure
where you view, each record or record memo and guess/make decisions.

Commercial tools like Recover will do the vast majority of tasks
automatically requiring little or no interaction. It can repair dbf's
with partial missing header or even offset headers automatically.
(For example, try CMrepair on http://www.abri.com/partialheader.zip)
Even for scattered data, professional tools have methods to make it
easer to collect the pieces. Recover memoscan process is automatic
generating a report for each bad memo. Some banks, etc. use the
Recover trace method that collects lost memos automatically from
garbled memo files. Try that with CMrepair.

At $86 USD for single user license is not a bad investment for
Recover. Over three thousand copies sold since 1995 must say something.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Lee ........ Abri Technologies ........ http://www.abri.com/
'Recover' - top rated FoxPro file repair utility.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Chip
Wed Aug 30 14:32:27 CDT 2006


"Paul Lee" <no@spam.please> wrote in message
news:Xns98276F117C162JD0MS@207.46.248.16...
> <BoudewijnLutgerink@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> news:4C66CD81-C57A-4C4E-B0B4-E833FA183687@microsoft.com:
>> "Tim Cairns" wrote:
>>>......I don't like the thought of paying $199
>>> for a utility that I almost never need.
>>>
>> Google for "cmrepair". It's good, it's free and simple to use.
>
> I decided to make a few comments regarding freebie repair tools.
>
> Most of them will only do trivial header repair. True.. that is
> a problem in many cases and that can be helpful. But some of them are
> difficult to use and they do not find many other hidden problems.
> After repair, the table may appear to work but may give unexpected
> problems otherwise.
>
> CMrepair in particular: It is a manual tool that requires you to
> guess/know what should be in every piece of the file - you have to
> make all the decisions. This is a difficult task for even myself and
> an impossible task for endusers. It will not work with invalid memo
> file in VFP9. The "recordscan" or "memoscan" is a manual procedure
> where you view, each record or record memo and guess/make decisions.
>
> Commercial tools like Recover will do the vast majority of tasks
> automatically requiring little or no interaction. It can repair dbf's
> with partial missing header or even offset headers automatically.
> (For example, try CMrepair on http://www.abri.com/partialheader.zip)
> Even for scattered data, professional tools have methods to make it
> easer to collect the pieces. Recover memoscan process is automatic
> generating a report for each bad memo. Some banks, etc. use the
> Recover trace method that collects lost memos automatically from
> garbled memo files. Try that with CMrepair.
>
> At $86 USD for single user license is not a bad investment for
> Recover. Over three thousand copies sold since 1995 must say something.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Paul Lee ........ Abri Technologies ........ http://www.abri.com/
> 'Recover' - top rated FoxPro file repair utility.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------

I agree with this. However, I'd recommend to avoid a commercial repair
package named FoxFix.

Chip