No Design View in my mdb

[Monish]

Hi

I have a split db with an mde file created for deployment to
multi-users...but while I was away for the holidays the file became
corrupted. I can still open the mde file, but the mdb file (front-end) opens
without design options on my forms. The BE is fine.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Thanks for taking the time to read this

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Probably not, especially if you have code in the MDE. There are a few
services that can kind of duplicate what you've done, but they are
expensive.

Do you have a design view in a new empty MDB? If so, try importing all the
objects from the corrupt front end.

 

[scott04]

This may be a dumb question but does your company backup its folders daily?
If so go to the prior days verison of the front end. Was their a copy of the
front end anywhere where you can re-copy it?

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Since you asked me instead of the OP, I'll answer. Yes, we backup all
changed files daily, a full backup weekly, and since we specialize in
databases, we also backup the project we are working on multiple times
throughout the day.

Further, we store 1 full backup and every other day an a drive which is
stored off premises.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
http://www.accessmvp.com

 

[Monish]

I have tried to set up a new mdb and began importing all the queries and
tables (BE links) from the MDE into it, but when I try to import any forms,
reports or macros/modules, I am not able to - they are "grayed out". Any
idea why that is so?

I also am not able to import from the corrupted MDB as it gives me the same
error message when I attempt it: "The Microsoft Jet database engine stopped
the process because you and another user are attempting to change the same
data at the same time."

Our company does back-up but for some reason they were not able to locate
any older versions of this db that were not not corrupted also...the db has
been running for 4 years now, but they were only able to locate one version
from Fall 2009...

 

[Monish]

Let me add also, I have just seen that my mdb FE is actually an mde file
(although it still has the mdb extension)...I tried to create an mde from it
and received a message stating it was already an mde file...

So, now the only real mdb file I have is the copy which does not open (due
to the error message)...

Any help at all is sooo appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[Larry Linson]

It is difficult to determine what might or might not work with a corrupted
database, and it appears that is what you are dealing with. You may be able
to access the forms via VBA code from another database,
and extract properties; you can do that with some "locked-down" databases,
and, if my recollection is correct, from MDEs (but you can't use this trick
to extract the code from MDEs). You may or may not be able to employ the
(unsupported, but has-worked-for-many-versions SaveAsText feature... search
the newsgroup archives or Bing, or Google, for more info).

It's hard for me to visualize anyone who's been using Access for a long time
not keeping his own backup copies of a database that he's maintaining or
developing. At least, you have learned an object lesson about keeping
backup copies... I may be a little more frequent with my copies during
development, but a little less so in a production environment.

Depending on the complexity, number of objects, etc., it might be worth your
while to seek an Access database data recovery specialist. There are more
than a few, but the one the really-experienced Access developers will
recommend most often is Peter Miller, http://www.pksolutions.com. He used
to offer a free evaluation and estimate of cost. If it is relatively
simple, it may be cost-effective to just re-create it from scratch.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP