Symptom:
When using Microsoft Access to open a corrupted Access database file, you see the following error (error 9505) first:
Microsoft Access has detected that this database is in an inconsistent state, and will attempt to recover the database. During this process, a backup copy of the database will be made and all recovered objects will be placed in a new database. Access will then open the new database. The names of objects that were not successfully recovered will be logged in the “Recovery Errors” table.
A sample screenshot looks like this:
Click the “OK” button to let Access repair the database. If Access cannot repair the corrupted database, it will show the following error (error 2317):
The database ‘xxx.mdb’ can’t be repaired or isn’t a Microsoft Access database file.
where xxx.mdb is the name of the corrupt database.
The screenshot looks like this:
which means Microsoft Access has tried its best but still cannot repair the file.
Precise Explanation:
This error indicates Access can recognize the basic schemas and metadata of the MDB database successfully, but detect some inconsistencies in the table definitions or record data.
Microsoft Access will try to repair the database and fix the inconsistencies. If the table definitions vital to whole database cannot be repaired, it will display the above mentioned “The database ‘xxx.mdb’ can’t be repaired or isn’t a Microsoft Access database file.” error and abort the open operation.
You can try our product DataNumen Access Repair to repair the MDB file and solve this error.
Sample File:
Sample corrupt MDB file that will cause the error. mydb_5.mdb
The file repaired with DataNumen Access Repair: mydb_5_fixed.mdb