"unrecognized format"

[Guest]

I have received a DB created in Access 2000. The pc that this data was on
crashed hard and I had to perform a recovery with software recovery tools.
The database fails to open with and error: "unrecognized format". I've
tried to jetcomp and also merge into a new DB with no success. Is there any
other method of trying to recover this DB? I also tried to open with Access
2003 to no avail.

Thank you

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

It's probably corrupt. Here is a list of all the things to try:

First, always work on a copy of the database. Working on the original may
make it impossible for a repair service to fix it.

Download a copy of JetComp.exe:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;273956

Try backing up your forms as text with the undocumented SaveAsText
LoadFromText functions:

http://www.datastrat.com/Code/DocDatabase.txt

Also have a look at the Microsoft KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;209137

Then have a look at Tony Toews' Access Corruption FAQ at:

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/corruptmdbs.htm

for some suggestions. Unfortunately, some corruption cannot be fixed - you
may need to create a new database, import what can be salvaged, and recreate
the rest.

Although it's a paid service, Peter Miller does an outstanding job of saving
corrupt databases. Try this URL:

http://www.pksolutions.com

 

[Guest]

I've read your suggestions and tried a couple of them but he problem seems to
be that jetcomp and access itself don't recognize the format at all. Won't
open the DB or compact. I'm not sure why this happened. I guess there's
probably not much that can be done.

 

[Scott McDaniel]

I've read your suggestions and tried a couple of them but he problem seems to
be that jetcomp and access itself don't recognize the format at all. Won't
open the DB or compact. I'm not sure why this happened. I guess there's
probably not much that can be done.

If the data is important, a recovery solution (like www.PKSolutions.com) might be able to help. Not sure of the cost,
but I'm sure it ain't peanuts ...

Scott McDaniel
scott@takemeout_infotrakker.com
www.infotrakker.com