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Maintaining and recovering FileMaker Pro databases
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ILEMAKER PRO HELP 1198
Maintaining and recovering FileMaker Pro databases
Power failures, hardware problems, and other factors can damage a FileMaker Pro database file.
Although the Recover feature might be able to salvage a damaged file, it is strongly recommended
that you perform regular maintenance on your FileMaker
Pro databases.
Regular FileMaker Pro maintenance takes two forms:
• Backing up
• Saving a compacted copy
About file maintenance
In order to understand how file corruption occurs, it is useful to know how FileMaker Pro manages
data.
FileMaker Pro is a disk-based application, so it does not need to load the entire database into RAM
as the file is opened. Instead, the application transfers data as needed from the hard drive to RAM
and back. As the file is used, updated data is written from data buffers in RAM to the hard drive. The
most common cause of file damage is an unexpected application termination or quit. In most cases,
an unexpected quit occurs when the file is between hard-drive updates. In this situation, the next
time the database is opened, FileMaker
Pro runs a consistency check on the file and the file usually
opens without problems. However, if the unexpected quit occurs during a hard drive update, the file
is likely to require
recovery.
Notes
• Because unexpected application termination is the most common cause of database
corruption, try to ensure that your operating system is stable.
• Make sure that you are running the most current and stable version of .dll files (Windows)
and system components (OS
X).
• Run only the software that is absolutely necessary on your most critical machines. Keeping
your configurations simple reduces the chance that some software may conflict, and makes
it easier to troubleshoot if there is a problem.
• Use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) if your files are being used in an area subject to
power outages.
• Consider all hard disk problems to be potentially serious. In cases of multiple corrupted files
on a hard drive, the hard drive may be at fault. Check the hard drive with a disk utility
program.
• Software that optimizes, compresses, or partitions the hard drive should be the most current
version. Driver software must be compatible with your version of the operating system.
Backing up
Routine backups are strongly recommended for any document stored on a computer. Magnetic
media are susceptible to a variety of problems, and a storage device such as a hard disk should
never be the sole repository for your data. Extreme heat, cold, sunlight, and the presence of electric
and magnetic fields can all contribute to the failure of magnetic storage media, so a careful backup
strategy will include optical as well as magnetic media.
It is easier to back up a database than it is to re-create it. Whether you should back up your data
every day, several times a week, or less frequently is usually determined by the amount of data you
are adding to your databases and how difficult it would be to re-create your files in the event they
become corrupted.