How ofted should one compact and repair?

[Gus]

Hello all,

What is a good timeframe for carrying out the compact and rapair task on a
split database (compacting the back end). I am guessing it depends on how
much a database is being used, but would like to get some input.

What are some indications of a need for compacting and repairing a database?

Thanks for your help.

 

[John Spencer]

One man's opinion.

I only compact the backend rarely. If it is getting large (near 1 gig) then I
compact it and see if it shrinks significantly. If it does, then I will
probably start doing the compact more often.



John Spencer
Access MVP 2002-2005, 2007-2008
The Hilltop Institute
University of Maryland Baltimore County

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

What is a good timeframe for carrying out the compact and rapair task on a
split database (compacting the back end). I am guessing it depends on how
much a database is being used, but would like to get some input.

What are some indications of a need for compacting and repairing a database?

<shrug> Religious argument.

Somewhere between hourly and monthly unless there's a *lot* of growth
due to massive importing of data.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Gus]

Thanks. I am cureently testing the database to see what I get if I leave it
without compacting and repairing for at least two weeks. So, far it is doing
well.

Any other comments would be appreciated.

 

[David W. Fenton]

I am cureently testing the database to see what I get if I leave
it without compacting and repairing for at least two weeks. So,
far it is doing well.

Some my clients' apps are set up on a schedule to compact every
night after the server backup runs. Others aren't set to compact
ever, and I do it when I'm working on their system. A well-designed
app won't be doing things like deleting lots of records, so there
shouldn't be bloat except for the addition of new records, mostly.
If that happens with thousands of new records per day, then regular
compacts are helpful for performance in that they rewrite the
database in an order that makes data retrieval faster (like
defragging a hard drive). But with only 100s of new records in a
week or a month, it's not so important.

 

[Gus]

Hello David,

Thanks for the input. I am currently working on programing the DB, so that
the it compacts and repairs the BE on the network based on a schedule. I
think this would take care of problems that are caused when compacting and
repairing.

Do you have suggestions for references and examples I can look at for doing
this? I would really appreciate any help.

Thank you.