Database Size

[Roy Goldhammer]

Hello there

I've seen on many books on access that access database cannot be bigger then
100Mb

I would like to get some more data about this limit like:
100Mb of data, limit of code, forms, ect...

My database after recreate is 110Mb and i stuck with bad behaviur like:

when i work on the database 3 days without compact, it reaches to size of
2Gb
In many cases the code is being corrupted and i need to continue working
with the last backup
In some cases the access is being shut down while working on it

does someone have article about this behavior and access Maximum size?

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

You're reading the wrong books. That's nonsense.

When you say 'work on the database 3 days without compact' are you talking
about entering/editing data, or about code and/or design changes?

If you mean entering/editing data, that's not normal behaviour, and you
certainly have a problem, but it is *not* caused by any non-existent 100MB
files size limit. If you can describe the circumstances in which this is
happening a bit more, perhaps someone may be able to help track down the
source of the problem.

If you're talking about code and/or design changes, then you really
shouldn't do that - during development you should be compacting at least
once a day, preferably more. Also make sure that you have all service
releases and patches installed, and if you're using Access 2000, consider
upgrading to a later version. In my experience both Access 2002 and Access
2003 are significantly more stable during development than Access 2000. I
would have to admit, though, that my experience with Access 2000 was mostly
prior to the release of the most recent service release - by the time
service release 3 was released, I had already moved to Access 2002. So I
can't say for sure how much difference that service release may have made.
If you're using Access 2000, and haven't installed all the service releases,
that should be your first step.

Good luck.

 

[Roy Goldhammer]

Whell Brendan

The Access I'm use is 2003. And when i talk about growing is when i write a
code. The access mdb was developed in Access 97 and i convert it to 2003 few
months ago. On Access 97 it's size was approx 50Mb and now it is 120Mb. Many
problems have started since i've upgrate it.

If what are you saying is true, the databse size can reach to even bigger
size without no limit. On access 97 i had limit that i couldn't have more
then 1000 modules on single database. Does this limit is diffrent?

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

Of course there are limits, there are limits to everything. But there is no
100 MB file size limit. For details on what limits do exist, search the help
file for 'specifications'.

Have you split the 'front-end' application MDB from the 'back-end' data MDB?
120 MB would not be very large at all for a data MDB or for an MDB that
contained both data and application objects, but it would be unusually large
for an application-only MDB.

During intensive development, it can be useful to occasionally import
everything into a new, empty MDB. This often leads to a greater reduction in
the overall size of the MDB than compacting. It can be more work, though, as
you may have to reset various properties and settings afterward. As a rough
guideline, during intensive development I would tend to compact once or
twice a day, and import everything into a new database once or twice a week.

 

[Roy Goldhammer]

Thankes Brendon

My application has Front-End and back end

The Back-end is sql server. And the size of the sql server size is 800 Mb
(not including the log file)
So the 120Mb is code only.

For Instance: wnen i wrote the first message i've compact the database and
now it is 400Mb

It is very hard to work like this

About creating new mdb every week: THe project is in source safe so every
month i create new source safe file.

I've been heared about using references in access. Do you know what it
meens?

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

That definitely does not sound normal. An application-only MDB should not
get that big, in my experience. A quick survey of application-only MDBs on
my system shows that none of them exceed 30 MB in size.

There are a number of factors that can contribute to MDB 'bloat'. Storing
images in the MDB is one, frequent creation and destruction of temporary
objects is another. Tony Toews has a page on the subject, with links to
related KB articles, at the following URL ...

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