Corrupt DB Question

[scott04]

Hi everyone,
I have a database that is used across multiple locations via front and back
end. The shared network drive I know is backed up. My questions is if my
back end becomes corrupt (hopefully it doesn't) will the backup be able to
retirve the information from the prior days work. This database does not get
that many records daily therefore it would not be a complete disaster but was
just checking everyones opinion.

 

[Mark A. Sam]

Scott,

That is the point of the backup, but who knows. If it is backed up on tape,
I wouldn't depend on it. Whenever I am responsible for data backup, I
backup the databases to other locations. If the data is on a network drive,
I would try to save it to a local drive or even a remote drive at another
location.

God Bless,

Mark A. Sam

 

[scott04]

Thanks for your feedback.

Scott,

That is the point of the backup, but who knows. If it is backed up on tape,
I wouldn't depend on it. Whenever I am responsible for data backup, I
backup the databases to other locations. If the data is on a network drive,
I would try to save it to a local drive or even a remote drive at another
location.

God Bless,

Mark A. Sam

 

[John W. Vinson]

Hi everyone,
I have a database that is used across multiple locations via front and back
end. The shared network drive I know is backed up. My questions is if my
back end becomes corrupt (hopefully it doesn't) will the backup be able to
retirve the information from the prior days work. This database does not get
that many records daily therefore it would not be a complete disaster but was
just checking everyones opinion.

That depends entirely on when the backup is made. If it's made daily, you will
have the data every day; if a new backup is made once a month, you'll have to
go back a month.

Be sure that it's a *usable* backup. If the backup runs while someone has the
database open, or worse while someone is actively updating data, the backup
may be corrupt. I'd try restoring a backup (to some other filename or
folder!!!) and testing it to be sure it's being done right.

John W. Vinson [MVP]

 

[scott04]

After talking to out IT department, our entire network shared drive gets
backed up nightly. If a problem arises they can re-image the data from the
previous day. Does this sound like a reasonable backup for my back end?

 

[Mark A. Sam]

If you trust the backup mechanism and you are only concerned about the time
element, then yes it is reasonable.

 

[John W. Vinson]

After talking to out IT department, our entire network shared drive gets
backed up nightly. If a problem arises they can re-image the data from the
previous day. Does this sound like a reasonable backup for my back end?

As President Reagan famously said, "Trust... but verify".

I expect it should work (again, just so you can be sure that nobody was
burning the midnight oil and working in the database at 2:15am when the backup
job was running), but I'd ask your IT folks to restore a copy *to a different
folder* (so as not to mess with your production copy); relink a copy of your
frontend to this restored database and test it thoroughly.

John W. Vinson [MVP]