Corrupt .ntx and .dbf files

[hardi123]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am using a software which was built in Clipper and it is an accounting software, recently while working on the Program, i made all the entries and then i indexed...the program stopped working and closed. Since then i am unable to retreive the latest data from the .ntx or .dbf files.

When i opened the file in wordpad or excel, it shows all junk characters. I have tried all the dbf recovery tools available but nothing worked.

I request if your kind self can help me get out of this mess.

Thanking you in advance.

Hardik Shah

 

[JCreamerII]

You should be able to recreate the indexes. Do you have a reindex function, and if not can you recreate them? If you can erase the current index and then recreate it. I have a line of code to erase an index when it is recreating them. If the index is corrupt, you will need a fresh index. As far as the data is concerned, that could be a differnet story.

Jim C.

 

[hardi123]

Dear Sir,

Sorry but could u pls. tell me which extension are index files, .ntx ?. When i open .ntx files in wordpad or excel, i can see some data and some junk characters. However when i import dbf files in access i get message as "External Data is not in the Expected Format".

I will tell u the scenario what happened, while i was operating on the software program, i indexed the data...indexing worked out well, after that i was trying to make some payment transactions in the software, the 1st transaction got done well but while doing the 2nd one the software stopped working and exited. Since then i am not able to open the software program.

Hope you would understand my problem and i am confident that all geniuses put together can definately help me out of the mess.

Definately appreciate your effots.

Thanks,
Hardik Shah

 

[JCreamerII]

Looking at the NTX wouldn't offer any info, other than to show that there are records in the index. The DBF is the key. Do you have a backup of hte DBF file prior to this issue? You can open the DBF in excel but don't to a save from within excel. If the data doesn't fit neatly into the spreadsheet, you may have corruption. I have never seen a whole DBF get corrupt, just portions of it.

Jim C.

 

[DTracy]

Don't open the dbf files with Excel, it will trash them and any relations they are involved with. Use the utility program DBU that came with Clipper to review, repair. edit, etc. It can also be used to reindex the files.

Thanks,
Dave.

 

[JCreamerII]

Opening in excel will not trash them. Saving them in excel will modify the structure, but only if you do a save. You can open and do a SAVE AS and save to another file name. If you don't do a save it won't alter the structure.

Jim C.

 

[JockMullin]

Rule 1 of data recovery is not to work on your current file.
Work on copies in another folder - then it doesn't matter if you write to them inadvertently.

Alex Nolan makes a good freeware utility called DBF Viewer Plus. It is straightforward to use and portable:

http://www.alexnolan.net/software/dbf.htm

It provides import and export support and can inspect reindex and rebuild indexes.

Jock

 

[DTracy]

Jock,

I tried out the dbf viewer by Alex Nolan, very nice. A great freebee.

Thanks man,
Dave,

P/S The biggest problem I've found with accesing dbf with excel is excel not supporting deleted status. It removes deleted records and with a relational database setup that causes orphaned records in linked databses. Also, excel screws up the offset values in memo fields so that they are corrupt and unusable. Some people may advocate using excel with dbf, I don't and avoid it like the plague. IMHO.