Claris FileMaker Recovery and Corruption Resources
A collection of recovery and corruption resources from Claris all in one place.Professional Services
fmLifeBoat
Our life boat service rebuilds you a brand new file based on your existing application code and data. You get your file back – corruption free.File Recovery Service
Registered owners of the current version (or one version back) of FileMaker Pro may send in files for recovery. This service will be processed provided all necessary documentation (see attachment) is submitted correctly. There is a fee of U.S. $500.00 per file.Recovery
Deleting a damaged layout
First, a word to the wise. Anything discussed here should not give the impression that backing up data is anything less than vital. The following types of processes are usually not necessary if good backup procedures are in place and followed!How to organize the recovery process when recovering related databases
When running a recovery process on databases in a FileMaker Pro solution, (multiple databases using relationships to one another) retaining the original filenames is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the relationships between files. Following is a overview of a process to help organize the recovery process and avoid filename confusion.Recover File
Recovers a damaged FileMaker Pro file.Recovering files
If a file appears to be damaged, first try saving a compacted copy, which copies all the data and rebuilds the tree structure of the database (see Saving a compacted copy). Even if the file can’t be opened, you can use the Advanced Recovery Options dialog box (described below) to make a compacted copy. If a file is too damaged to open or use, you can use the Recover command to salvage as much information as it can and create a new, recovered file.Removing corrupt records from a file
When scrolling through your data (with or without View as List), your computer freezes when trying to display a specific record. Recovering the file either results in a failure or does not fix the record.Setting advanced file recovery options
FileMaker Pro uses certain default settings when it recovers a file. You can change these settings when you attempt to recover a damaged file.What do you do if your file fails the consistency check?
To open a database that failed the Consistency Check, you must first repair the database with the Save a Copy As/Compacted Copy command in your previous version of FileMaker Pro (8.5 or earlier) or use the Recover command in your current version of FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Advanced.What to do when your file is corrupt
If you suspect that you FileMaker solution is corrupt there are several things you can try to fix it on your own.
Prevention
Corrupt / Damaged Files: How to avoid the need for recovery
File corruption is not inevitable, but it’s a good idea to take measures to prevent damage to a database and ensure that databases are properly backed-up in case of disaster.Ensuring that all of your hosted files are clean of corruption
If you are experiencing issues with one or more of your files hosted by FileMaker Server and feel like there is the possibility of corruption within your file(s), the following steps need to be performed for ALL files hosted on the server. Once this process has been completed for all of the files, it is important that they are all put back up on the server at the same time.File management best practices
While FileMaker, Inc. takes every precaution possible to prevent data loss – there are those rare occasions when your FileMaker Pro file can become corrupted and data loss may occur. If this happens to you, the news does not have to be all bad. In fact, following the suggestions and best practices in this article, the overall impact and inconvenience can be minimal.
