AlanBarker Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 I have a very large database (nearly 1 gig in size) that is essentially a weekly snapshot of our production (Oracle) bill system. This is a constantly evolving system, as I add new features and capabilities every fe weeks. As part of the weekly build process, the last step is to do a "Save as (Compacted)" script step. That step is now failing, FileMaker produces a stub of a file with the compact name (only 50-60k in size; should be at least 600 meg) and FileMaker itself simply shuts down without even an error message. I presume that I have file corruption, and that is causing the compact save to fail - the original database actually still works fine; but I'm very concerned that this will be a huge problem in days to come. Can anyone recommend a way to identify where the problem might lie? I've done the obvious things like save a clone of the db, and rebuild the data, but the save as compact function still fails. Thanks, Alan Barker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHunter3 Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 What happens when you do a MANUAL save as compacted copy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanBarker Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 Essentially the same thing. FileMaker Pro terminates/quits; the compact file that it was trying to create is a tiny fraction of what it should be - I didn't even bother trying to open it. A new piece of info - I let FileMaker do a full recover on the gigantic 1 gig file; and lo and behold, it now lets me do a save as (compact)! I now feel more confident that my solution is ok {aka warm and fuzzy} - do you think that is false optimism? Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ender Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I would instead recommend reverting to a backup that does not have the problem. Symptoms of corruption may go away as a result of a recover, but the file can still be damaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHunter3 Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 A new piece of info - I let FileMaker do a full recover on the gigantic 1 gig file; and lo and behold, it now lets me do a save as (compact)! I now feel more confident that my solution is ok {aka warm and fuzzy} - do you think that is false optimism? Alan Way way false. never, ever, ever, ever use a Recovered file for anything except as a data source to import data from. The Recovery process is better thought of as "scavenging". It does not fix structural corruption it mangles as much of the file as necessary to get at the data. And the fact that something that was not working before Recovery works after indicates that yes you have a case of file cancer and need to rebuilt or restore from known good backup. Probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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