Access db unexpectedly quit and creates backup.mdb

[loisk]

Hi,

I don't know why my db is unexpectedly quit, but when it does it always creates myfilename.Back up.mdb and myfilename.mdb (i guess it's compacted one. The size of the byte is reduced greatly.)

My question is which one I should open and continue to work on. Is it the myfilenmae.Back up.mdb (still full byte size) or myfilename.mdb (reduced size one)?

Why it is being quit unexpectedly is another problem that I need to deal with after my first question. Thank you for your help!

[Megalog]

Ok... the 'backup' copy is the database you were working on while it crashed. Access is simply renaming the file as 'backup', and anything you worked on within it since it last saved is lost.

The newly created mdb, the smaller one, is the same database as the 'backup'. It's just had the compact/repair performed on it. So which one should you go back to work on? IMO, it probably doesnt matter much which one you choose. I tend to return to the backup copy, depending on the reason it crashed. If it was a query I was testing that was just too complex, and I ended up crashing Access, I'm not going to be too worried about it. If it's a strange repeating crash, that could have some level of form or data corruption involved, then I usually leave both copies alone, make copies of those, and start to investigate and try to re-create the error(s).

In your case, you could end up with a lot of backup copies if it's reliably crashing that often.

[loisk]

Ok... the 'backup' copy is the database you were working on while it crashed. Access is simply renaming the file as 'backup', and anything you worked on within it since it last saved is lost.

The newly created mdb, the smaller one, is the same database as the 'backup'. It's just had the compact/repair performed on it. So which one should you go back to work on? IMO, it probably doesnt matter much which one you choose. I tend to return to the backup copy, depending on the reason it crashed. If it was a query I was testing that was just too complex, and I ended up crashing Access, I'm not going to be too worried about it. If it's a strange repeating crash, that could have some level of form or data corruption involved, then I usually leave both copies alone, make copies of those, and start to investigate and try to re-create the error(s).

In your case, you could end up with a lot of backup copies if it's reliably crashing that often.

Hi, Megalog!
Thank you for your reply!
So working on compacted one should be fine? I was worried about if the newly created/compact one could be incompleted/missing something.
Now I guess I have to go back and try to find what is causing the crash.

[missinglinq]

I'm going to guess that under Tools - Options - General you have Compact on Close checked, which is why every time the database crashes and closes you end up with this compacted copy. Compact on Close has got to be one of the worse feature Microsoft ever came up with! The very act of compacting an Access app can cause corruption, and should never be done without first making a backup copy!

If this feature is checked, as it has to be by your description, uncheck it!

Next, to address the repeated crashing, I would create a blank db and import all of the objects of your db into it. Many times this is all that's necessary to dump the corruption. If the problem persists, you need to try and pinpoint what’s happening when it crashes; what forms are being used or modified, what queries are being used, etc.

Allen Browne has an excellent article on corruption recovery you might look at:

http://allenbrowne.com/recover.html

Linq ;0)>

[loisk]

I'm going to guess that under Tools - Options - General you have Compact on Close checked, which is why every time the database crashes and closes you end up with this compacted copy. Compact on Close has got to be one of the worse feature Microsoft ever came up with! The very act of compacting an Access app can cause corruption, and should never be done without first making a backup copy!

If this feature is checked, as it has to be by your description, uncheck it!

Next, to address the repeated crashing, I would create a blank db and import all of the objects of your db into it. Many times this is all that's necessary to dump the corruption. If the problem persists, you need to try and pinpoint what’s happening when it crashes; what forms are being used or modified, what queries are being used, etc.

Allen Browne has an excellent article on corruption recovery you might look at:

http://allenbrowne.com/recover.html

Linq ;0)>

I will check it out.
Thank you so much to both of you, missinglinq & megalog!

[Megalog]

I'm using Access 2007, and when it crashes out on me, it will prompt me to choose whether I want to attempt a repair.. If I select 'Yes', then this is when it creates the backup, and compact/repairs the new copy.

I dont remember how it exactly works for Acc2003 and earlier... But I'm assuming this is what is happening in your case.

[akhilfaisal]

Hello.
I know im getting into this thread pretty late.But thought of keeping you posted about something peculiar i noticed.

while running a complex query access crashed and made a backup file larger than the original one or the one named so.
I continued to work with the file which had the original name(saved one). later when it started misbehaving it came to my notice that it was in the state as it was 2 big macros back. This is data corruption. The backup had the latest data though. So i think the backup would be a better option.