Access Database Repair - Frequently Asked Questions

Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this as there are hundreds of different error messages and symptoms that can indicate database corruption.  As a general rule, if an error happens spontaneously or randomly without any logical reason, it is likely that the database has become corrupted in some way.  A list of common error messages that are often symptoms of corruption can be found here.  If you would like to try to fix the corruption yourself by using some free utilities provided by Microsoft, have a read of our Access Database Corruption Repair Guide where you can learn how to fix minor corruption issues before they get worse - you can also learn techniques for preventing future database corruption!

Obviously the Access Database Corruption Repair Guide will only work for files that have suffered from minor corruption and we always recommend uploading your file to us for a FREE Recovery Report if your database contains valuable data because the methods outlined in this guide can sometimes lead to losing significant data (and often only data can be repaired using the guide).

This depends very much on the size of the database and the degree of corruption in the file.  Our prices start as low as GBP £30.  Your free Recovery Report includes the cost for you to download the repaired database file.  Unlike other companies, by the time you have received the free recovery report we have already repaired your file - for this reason, once payment has been received you will be able to download the repaired file immediately!  Most other companies make you wait up to 24 hours to download the repaired file!

Our free recovery report details all Access objects that have been recovered including data, forms, reports, modules, etc.  It also shows the last 5 rows of data from each table so that you can ensure the data that has been recovered is up-to-date. View our Sample Recovery Report here.

Since we deal with confidential data on a daily basis, we have strict rules and security systems in place to prevent unauthorised access to files and/or data our customers upload.  The only reliable way of ensuring we keep your files secure is to ask you to register your details, including a unique username and password - you will be required to enter your username and password combination before you are able to view your Recovery Report or download your repaired file.  Registration is free and only takes a few moments to complete.

Also, on the 'account' that is created for you, you are able to create several recovery jobs if required - this enables us to keep track of your usage of the Access Revival Service and offer special discounts to you for repeat business. 

A username is required to ensure your files are kept securely on our server and that nobody other than you can access the Recovery Reports or download any repaired file.  Your username/password will be unique and is required when viewing your Recovery Report and when downloading your repaired file.  Do not tell anybody your username or password - it must be kept secret in order to ensure your files are secure.

The quotation is completely free.  You only pay for the database repair service after we have analysed the database file, provided a quotation and Recovery Report, and you have accepted it. Please note that the Recovery Report contains detailed information about your repaired file and by submitting payment to us you are agreeing that the contents of this report satisfy your requirements for the database repair.

Firstly, please compress your corrupt file with WinZIP or WinRAR as this will reduce the time taken for you to transfer the file to us. 

We have many options for you to send us your file - you can choose the most suitable.

• Use our web-upload service.

  We have developed an automated upload service that works using your standard web-browser.  Our system can accept files of any size, however many corporate firewalls and some Internet Service Providers will reject large file transfers after a specified limit (e.g. a common limit is 8Mb).  If you experience problems uploading files using this method, please try an alternative from below. 

  Click here for our web-upload service

• FTP Upload

  If you are unable to use the automated system from above then you might want to try uploading your file to our FTP Servers.  We do not publish details of our FTP servers at this time - please contact us for the details.

  Note: Our this option is not automated and therefore you may encounter a slight delay before we can process your file.

  support@everythingaccess.com

• E-mail

  If your file is under 10Mb then you may try to send the file to us by e-mail:

  uploads@everythingaccess.com

  Note: This option is not automated and therefore you may encounter a delay before we can process your file.

• Media Delivery

  If you prefer to send us your file on CD-R or similar media then please request by e-mail:

  support@everythingaccess.com

Yes!  Our upload services can handle files of ANY size - unlike many of our competitors!  Please compress the database before sending the file to us as this will reduce the file size - usually to about 25% of the original size!

If you only have a slow connection speed to the internet, you may prefer to send the file to us on CD/DVD by post - please contact us for details.

If your data is confidential then you should set a strong password on the Zip/Rar archive file before sending it through the internet (and then e-mail us the password separately). It is highly unlikely that anybody would be able to intercept your file using our web upload service, but due to the nature of the internet, we cannot guarantee this. Hence why we ask you to set a password on the file before sending.

Any databases you upload to us are secure in that nobody outside of EverythingAccess.com can gain unauthorised access to your data.  We update our firewalls and anti-virus systems daily and have many more security mechanisms in place to ensure the security of your file on our servers. 

If your company requires an Non-Disclosure Agreement to be signed before you can send us the file, please contact us by e-mail and we will be happy to oblige.

After you have uploaded your database to us, you have 72 hours in which you can decide to purchase the recovered file.  After 72 hours, the file will be securely removed from our servers automatically.  Your Recovery Report will still be available, so if you later decide to buy the recovered file you just need to upload the file to us again. If you are worried about the security of your data, feel free to contact us at support@everythingaccess.com.  Please also review our Privacy Policy.

Most firewalls/proxies do not block standard HTTP file transfers - in most cases you will be able to send us your file via our web-upload facility here.  Since the web-upload service works through your web-browser, you shouldn't need to alter any settings.

If you encounter any problems, please get in touch with us as we have other methods available for you to send us your file if necessary.

Yes! Our recovery engine can decrypt the standard Access encoding mechanism, plus any password security or workgroup security is removed as part of the recovery process. The file that will be returned to you will not have any security measures that were in place in the original file.  It is up to you to re-apply the security to your database - we do not provide this service.

We use PayPal to authorise and accept your payments.  PayPal is secure and accepts all major credit/debit cards. Although we quote prices in GBP Sterling, you should be able to pay in your local currency using a competitive exchange rate through the PayPal system.  Other payments can be taken (e.g. Cheque) however we cannot release your recovered file until payment has been cleared/verified.

Our recovery engine can repair and extract virtually all Access objects, including;

• Tables
• Link-tables
• Relationships
• Indexes
• Lv-Properties (what's this?)
• Queries
• Forms
• Reports
• Data Access Page links
• Macros
• VBA modules (Standard Modules / Class Modules / UserForms)
• Commandbars (Tool bars / Menu bars / Shortcut menus)

Obviously the recovery of these objects is dependant on the corruption level of the database, however in nearly all cases we can recover 100% of Access objects.  Take a look at our Sample Recovery Report which details most of the objects from above.

Lv-Properties (or LvProps) are the properties that define detailed attributes about objects such as tables, fields and queries (- in fact all Access objects have Lv-Properties but tables, fields and queries are the most common). For example, default-values of table fields and width settings of fields in a query are defined using Lv-Properties. Our state of the art recovery engine can recover all Lv-Properties (depending on corruption level), and therefore you can be assured that the database you will be getting back is as close to the original as possible - which will save you in re-development costs!

Most jobs are completed by our team and ready for download within 1 hour.  For more complex situations involving larger database files or severe corruption, the time will vary.  Please contact us for an estimate.

Note:  After payment has been received and verified you will be able to download the repaired file immediately!

To ensure the fastest response times, our service is mostly automated.  Under normal circumstances you can expect to receive the Recovery Report and quote within 1 hour after we have received the file from you.  We pride ourselves in offering the fastest response times available on the net.  Remember, after you have made the payment for a recovery job, you are able to download the file immediately - compare this to hours or even days with most other recovery services!

We currently support Access v1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 95, 97, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 databases. We recover standard .MDB, .ACCDB and .ADP project databases.  For .MDE and .ACCDE databases,  the files will be returned to you in MDB format without any VBA code.

Your repaired database will be returned to you in the same Access-version format as the original corrupt file.

1. Register for the Access Revival service here
2. Once registered, log in with your account name and password.
3. Once logged in, you can now select the file to send to us. You should archive the file with WinZip or WinRAR beforehand to ensure a quick upload.
4. The web page will now upload the file to us.  The time taken for this will depend on your internet connection speed.
5. Once the upload is complete, you will receive confirmation that your file has been uploaded. Within 1 hour a recovery report will ready for you online.
   
   You should check your e-mail as a link to the report will be sent to you.
   (Also check your SPAM / Junk mail folder in case the e-mail gets incorrectly caught in that).
6. View your Recovery Report and decide whether or not you want to pay for the repaired file based on the Recovery Report.  If you don't, then you may cancel the recovery job, or after 72 hours it will be removed from our servers automatically. 
7. After payment has been received, you will be able to download the recovered file on your account.
8. Open the recovered file in Access and you will be presented with the 'Recovery Console' to finalize the recovery process.  What's the Recovery Console?

Some objects such as link-tables and Data Access Pages cannot be recreated at our data centre as the source objects will not be available to us.  For this reason we boot-strap your database with our Recovery Console which enables you to easily recreate these external objects on YOUR machine. Therefore you should open the database in Access on a machine which has access to the original resources.  If the original resources are unavailable you will be provided with detailed error information and given the option of opening the Recovery Console later to try again.  The Recovery Console is very simple and easy to use - just follow the on-screen instructions.

We aim to answer any support questions you have online.  We aim to respond to your query within 2-3 hours where possible - however in many circumstances we reply within 15 minutes.

Please click here for contact information.

Please try our Access Password Retrieval Lite program to recover your forgotten password (it is 100% FREEWARE!)