DBF Repair Tools

DBF Repair Tools

Postby TimStone » Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:37 pm

A client has a corrupted database. a file is showing 197,000 records but only about 10,000 are actually valid. The rest display as blank.

First I utilized DBF Doctor to do a repair but it only found about 30 bad records.

Then I used DBU to filter out only valid records, and tried to export them. I used the filter .NOT. EMPTY( fieldname ). However they must have something embedded in there because the filter doesn't work.
I used Advantage Architect to also try to filter out the blanks, but that doesn't eliminate them either.

Does anyone have suggestions for a really good DBF file repair tool ? Lots claim to be but I think they all do the same thing. Back in the DOS days we had a great one but it never transitioned to Windows ( or 32 bit ).

I appreciate your input.

Tim
Tim Stone
http://www.MasterLinkSoftware.com
http://www.autoshopwriter.com
timstone@masterlinksoftware.com
Using: FWH 23.10 with Harbour 3.2.0 / Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022-24 32/64 bit
User avatar
TimStone
 
Posts: 2943
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:45 pm
Location: Trabuco Canyon, CA USA

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby cnavarro » Thu Nov 09, 2023 4:22 am

Tim, What tool are you referring to?
Cristobal Navarro
Hay dos tipos de personas: las que te hacen perder el tiempo y las que te hacen perder la noción del tiempo
El secreto de la felicidad no está en hacer lo que te gusta, sino en que te guste lo que haces
User avatar
cnavarro
 
Posts: 6541
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:25 pm
Location: España

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby TimStone » Thu Nov 09, 2023 4:31 am

There are software programs that fix .dbf files that have been corrupted. There are several on the internet but some may not be legitimate.

Repairs might including repair of headers, removing non data characters, removing false end of file markers, etc. They also can re-align records are offset.

Most errors are OS/disk caused, often from adding in sectors from the drive that don’t belong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Tim Stone
http://www.MasterLinkSoftware.com
http://www.autoshopwriter.com
timstone@masterlinksoftware.com
Using: FWH 23.10 with Harbour 3.2.0 / Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022-24 32/64 bit
User avatar
TimStone
 
Posts: 2943
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:45 pm
Location: Trabuco Canyon, CA USA

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby Sakis » Thu Nov 09, 2023 4:34 am

Hello Tim
Take a look here: http://www.dbf2002.com/dbf-recovery/


Besst Regards
Sakis
User avatar
Sakis
 
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:12 pm
Location: Athens

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby James Bott » Mon Nov 13, 2023 6:45 pm

Tim,

Then I used DBU to filter out only valid records, and tried to export them. I used the filter .NOT. EMPTY( fieldname ). However they must have something embedded in there because the filter doesn't work.


I would write a routine to replace all the fake blank fields with all real blanks. Of course, you first need to find out which non-blank characters are showing visually as blanks.

Finally, you can add a routine to check for those offending characters in the Save() method so each time a record gets saved it is fixed before saving.

James 
FWH 18.05/xHarbour 1.2.3/BCC7/Windows 10
User avatar
James Bott
 
Posts: 4840
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:52 pm
Location: San Diego, California, USA

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby Giovany Vecchi » Mon Nov 13, 2023 11:37 pm

Tim, how are you?

Are the DBFs you refer to being managed by the Advantage Database Server?
If it's ads, do you use free tables or a data dictionary?
User avatar
Giovany Vecchi
 
Posts: 222
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:39 pm
Location: Brasil

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby TimStone » Tue Nov 14, 2023 1:29 am

In this case, no. Using data architect, I tried filtering for not empty but it still includes them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Tim Stone
http://www.MasterLinkSoftware.com
http://www.autoshopwriter.com
timstone@masterlinksoftware.com
Using: FWH 23.10 with Harbour 3.2.0 / Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022-24 32/64 bit
User avatar
TimStone
 
Posts: 2943
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:45 pm
Location: Trabuco Canyon, CA USA

Re: DBF Repair Tools

Postby James Bott » Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:04 pm

Tim,

Can you tell us which characters aren't visible? Better yet would be a few records that contain the problem characters.

James
FWH 18.05/xHarbour 1.2.3/BCC7/Windows 10
User avatar
James Bott
 
Posts: 4840
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:52 pm
Location: San Diego, California, USA


Return to FiveWin for Harbour/xHarbour

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 35 guests