Compacting Database

[Guest]

I have a call centre Access Database split FE/BE. The FE is running on
XP/Access 2003 and the backend is running Access 2000/server 2000. The file
size is 8 Meg. Within aweek the file grows to between 14 - 19 meg. When BE is
compacted it goes down to 8 mg. The FE is compacted automatically on exit.
With the bloated file on BE (only contains tables ) I imported each tabel one
by one into a blank database to see which table (s) were bloating. When I
imported all tables the new dtabase was only 8 meg (not the 14 meg I
expected) . If the bloat is not in the tables where is the other 6 meg
retained ? The compacting also resets the system security (group permissions
despite the FR clients having full permissions ?). There are no graphics or
photographs or pictures used in the database.

 

[Arvin Meyer]

The bloat IS in the tables, importing them re-writes them, the same as
compacting (which simply rewrite a new database file and deletes the old
one, then renames the new one to the old name).

Since Access 2000, there has been Unicode storage of data, which seems to
cause more bloating than plain ASCII storage. This would show up in text
fields more than numeric fields.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access Downloads
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access

 

[Guest]

Thanks Arvin, that has cleared up at least one point. Is there any other way
of finding out which table(s) are bloating so I can try and pin point the
source of the problem . I did note your comments about text fields being the
more likely candidate.