Data recovery after a pack

[BKtechie]

Hello all-
I remember seeing a utility that would recover dBase files after an accidental pack as long as you didn't change the file since. Does anyone know where I could get this utility, or have I lost the ability to distinguish between dreams and reality.
Thanks in Advance.
BKtechie

 

[tviman]

Seems that I remember seeing a 'Rollback' utility that came with dBaseIII+ but I'm not certain. To the best of my knowledge, a pack is permanent. You're only hope is that you've got a .BAK file from the last time you changed the file. I'd suggest that you create a transaction table so that you can rebuild in case this happens. There's always a better way...

 

[RHankinsJr]

Check out a product called dSalvage. I know it will bring back zapped files, so I am sure it can bring back packed ones too.
Richard L. Hankins Jr.
Senior Programmer
Auction Services, Inc.

 

[udaisengupta]

Theoretically it would be possible to recover a PACKed DBF file using low-level commands in FoxPro or using a program in C.
I guess the PACK command works in the same fashion as the DEL command in DOS, whereby only the header portion of the file is modified to disable any form of identification by dBASE.

If we are able to reinstate the header portion of the PACKed file, it would be a fair chance that we would be in a strong position to recover the file almost in its entirety.

I do not know whether I am on the right track, but these are my thoughts.

With regards,
Udai.

 

[leonw999]

I have the same issue. Except the pack has "fixed" the links to the blob file.

there was some corruption with the association between the files. When the Pack runs, it associates the records with blobs - just not the right ones

any suggestions?

 

[tviman]

Is there an associated index file and if so, have you reindexed the file(s). Normally, PACK rewrites the database and any records that were marked for deletion are permanently lost. I've heard of some utilities that can recover these files but I've never actually used any of them - or heard of anyone having any success with them.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!