Can an earlier version of an altered table be recovered in Access.

[Guest]

When an Access databae has been used extensively it may get quite large. By
selecting "compact or repair database" from Tools, the amount of memory used
by the database can be significantly reduced. Does this mean that Access
stores deleted tables or earlier versions of altered tables until "compact or
repair" is selected. If so, can they be viewed or recovered? If so, how?

 

['69 Camaro]

Hi.

Does this mean that Access
stores deleted tables

One can recover the last deleted table in the database, as long as no other
operations have taken place, such as deleting or copy/pasting another table,
and the database has not been closed or compacted, and the table was deleted
using the user interface, not from code.

Just open the Database Window to the "Tables" tab and press <CTRL><Z> to
undo the delete operation. If that doesn't work, you may be able to run
some code to recover the last deleted table, but don't get your hopes up.
Please see the following Web page for instructions:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=209874

or earlier versions of altered tables until "compact or
repair" is selected.

"Deleted" tables are marked for deletion, but aren't removed from the file
until compaction. Remember that anything "marked for deletion" is
overwritten by Jet as it updates other data within the file. If the table
has been altered from an earlier version of the structure, original parts of
the table structure _can_ remain under certain circumstances, but it's very,
very difficult and time-consuming to retrieve this by data recovery
services, which means it's expensive and not guaranteed to recover the
original data.

Data recovery services can often retrieve what's left of the deleted tables,
but this is also costly and usually not very useful, since one needs to
remove the parts that were overwritten by Jet, which leaves gaps in the data
in the records.

Your best bet is to restore from the most recent backup. You do have
reliable backups, don't you?

HTH.

Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips.

(Please remove ZERO_SPAM from my reply E-mail address, so that a message
will be forwarded to me.)

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

You are mostly correct in your assumptions.

However, a good portion of data is in fact modified in place. (so, some
updates to date does not make a copy, but modifies it where it is).

However, things like deletions of records etc. does result in the "old" data
just sitting there.

So, not in all cases is a "complete" copy of the data kept.

Further, for modifying forms etc, most often a copy is made.

However, there is no abilities, or reliable way to get at the "old" data. I
suppose some type of tool could be made, but it would be quite difficult to
make....

 

[Guest]

You are mostly correct in your assumptions.

However, a good portion of data is in fact modified in place. (so, some
updates to date does not make a copy, but modifies it where it is).

However, things like deletions of records etc. does result in the "old" data
just sitting there.

So, not in all cases is a "complete" copy of the data kept.

Further, for modifying forms etc, most often a copy is made.

However, there is no abilities, or reliable way to get at the "old" data. I
suppose some type of tool could be made, but it would be quite difficult to
make....


--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal

 

[Guest]

You are mostly correct in your assumptions.

However, a good portion of data is in fact modified in place. (so, some
updates to date does not make a copy, but modifies it where it is).

However, things like deletions of records etc. does result in the "old" data
just sitting there.

So, not in all cases is a "complete" copy of the data kept.

Further, for modifying forms etc, most often a copy is made.

However, there is no abilities, or reliable way to get at the "old" data. I
suppose some type of tool could be made, but it would be quite difficult to
make....


--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal

Thanks,

Based on what I've read I have assumed this to be true, but I wanted to be
sure.

 

[Guest]

Hi.


One can recover the last deleted table in the database, as long as no other
operations have taken place, such as deleting or copy/pasting another table,
and the database has not been closed or compacted, and the table was deleted
using the user interface, not from code.

Just open the Database Window to the "Tables" tab and press <CTRL><Z> to
undo the delete operation. If that doesn't work, you may be able to run
some code to recover the last deleted table, but don't get your hopes up.
Please see the following Web page for instructions:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=209874


"Deleted" tables are marked for deletion, but aren't removed from the file
until compaction. Remember that anything "marked for deletion" is
overwritten by Jet as it updates other data within the file. If the table
has been altered from an earlier version of the structure, original parts of
the table structure _can_ remain under certain circumstances, but it's very,
very difficult and time-consuming to retrieve this by data recovery
services, which means it's expensive and not guaranteed to recover the
original data.

Data recovery services can often retrieve what's left of the deleted tables,
but this is also costly and usually not very useful, since one needs to
remove the parts that were overwritten by Jet, which leaves gaps in the data
in the records.

Your best bet is to restore from the most recent backup. You do have
reliable backups, don't you?

HTH.

Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips.

(Please remove ZERO_SPAM from my reply E-mail address, so that a message
will be forwarded to me.)




Thanks,

I keep multiple backups anytime I am making major changes in a table or
whenever I want to perform an action such as appending, updating, linking,
merging etc. However I have lost a few hours work on a table when, in haste,
I deleted the wrong table. My backups prevented total disaster, but I still
lost some work - just trying to plan for the future

 

['69 Camaro]

Hi.

I keep multiple backups anytime I am making major changes in a table or
whenever I want to perform an action such as appending, updating, linking,
merging etc.

An excellent policy.

However I have lost a few hours work on a table when, in haste,
I deleted the wrong table. My backups prevented total disaster, but I
still
lost some work - just trying to plan for the future

A few other alternatives are to rename the tables instead of deleting them,
importing the "unnecessary" tables to another database and deleting the
originals, or even linking to all tables from the front end and just
deleting links to the "unnecessary" tables located in the back end. If
mistakes are made, then they are easily remedied in each of these scenarios,
too.

HTH.

Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips.

(Please remove ZERO_SPAM from my reply E-mail address, so that a message
will be forwarded to me.)