Ways to prevent corruption in FileMaker database

Corruption in any type of database is impossible to avoid completely, even most secure and safest relational database like FileMaker Pro also got corrupt sometime. However you can still avoid corruption in FileMaker Pro to a certain limit, if you take necessary precautions. So let's first understand why FileMaker Pro got corrupt at first place.

Reasons of corruption in FileMaker Pro:
  1. Since FileMaker is disk based application, so it just transfer the data as needed in main memory instead of loading the entire database. When it transfer data from main memory to hard disk and you unexpectedly quit the application then it is most likely that your FileMaker database becomes corrupt.
  2. Unexpected system shutdown due to power failure.
  3. Virus attack.
  4. Wrong updation of index file.
  5. Corruption in layout image.
How to prevent corruption in FileMaker Pro?
  1. Updated backup: You should maintain regular backup of your database. There are many advanced backup tools available that create multiple copies of database. Needless to say it is much simpler to recover your data from an updated backup instead of time consuming recovery process.
  2. Save a clone of your database. Clone is important because whenever you make any major changes in your database it is best to work on clone and later on import your data back to main database.
  3. Avoid unexpected shutdown or termination of application: As we have discussed above that one of the most common reason of FileMaker corruption is unexpected system shutdown or unexpected application termination so to avoid these situation it is recommended to use UPS (uninterrupted power supply). 
  4. File size limit: FileMaker Pro earlier versions have some file size limit and if your file has exceed that limit then there are full chances of corruption. So to avoid corruption make sure your file size does not exceed limit.
  5. Run hard disk utility: If you have multiple corrupted files on your computer then it might be possible that your hard disk is corrupted. Run advanced utility program to check hard disk corruption.
  6. Routine maintenance: Routine maintenance of database is required to avoid corruption issue. One of the ways is to compress data to reclaim unused space and to optimize database.
  7. Run anti-virus software: Now last but not the least is avoid virus attack by running good anti-virus program on your system.
So if you take above precaution then there are minimal chances of FileMaker corruption. However if even after taking above precaution your database got damaged then you should opt for a third party FileMaker Recovery tool. Such tool effectively repair damaged database without making any changes in original database.


   

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to Fix Issues with Excel File Save

How to resolve MS Access error “Cannot find the database you specified”?

How to resolve Excel error “MS Office Excel is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action"