Database Corruption – Top 4 Reasons You Should be Aware Of

Summary: This blog post talks about the 4 reasons of SQL database corruption and the way you should repair SQL database/how to deal with database corruption in SQL Server/SQL Server 2016 identity database corruption.

One of the topmost concerns for a database administrator is to make data available to the users. And performance is one of the important factors for making data available. But sometimes corruption can degrade the performance and cause inaccessibility. Database corruption is the worst nightmare for any database administrator. If you don’t fix the corruption in time, you’re likely to face a fatal data loss. In this article, we’re going to discuss database corruption in Microsoft SQL Server its most common reasons and easy ways to repair SQL database. Also, we’ll learn how to repair MDF file in order to save the invaluable data from being lost.

The success of any business depends entirely on the accuracy and integrity of customers’ data. A database is commonly used to store and handle a large amount of data, such as customer details for a business, stock items in a warehouse, etc. Generally, a database file size is huge due to the large amount of data and information it stores. Despite this fact, it’s very easy to manage the database content. A user can instantly access and update the information in the most efficient manner. Also, one can sort and search into the database in order to find any requested data.

Microsoft SQL Server

There are many well-known database software programs, and SQL Server is perhaps the best. It’s one of the most popular and advanced relational database management systems widely used by large organizations. The interactive user interface and excellent features make it a standout among other database programs. Database administrators often use Microsoft SQL Server for managing a large amount of data and information. Generally, Microsoft SQL Server creates two database files: MDF, the primary database; and NDF, the secondary database. Just like any other database program, SQL Server also has both a positive and a negative impact.

Despite the effectiveness, there’s a major drawback that may lead to severe issues. The database files created by SQL Server are prone to corruption. And whenever corruption takes place in the SQL Server, the database file becomes inaccessible.

SQL Database Corruption

Remember, more than 95% of database corruption happens due to hardware failure. A computer stores everything on a hard disk drive. If the hard disk fails or crashes down for any reason, all your data including the SQL databases stored on the hard disk become inaccessible. In this case, there is an immediate need to repair the SQL database  There are various other reasons for database corruption. I’ve listed the most common ones below:

Virus Infection

There’s nothing more harmful than a computer virus. It’s the topmost reason for corruption in the computer. Almost no computer file is immune to virus infection. A virus can enter a computer system in many ways, i.e. through an email attachment, during file downloads from the Internet; visiting any malicious website, etc. An SQL database is highly prone to virus infection. It can easily corrupt the database file and make it inaccessible.

Abrupt System Shutdown 

Whenever a computer system turns off abruptly for any reason, corruption is likely to happen. Generally, the most common reason for abrupt system shutdown is the power failure. Let’s suppose you’re working on SQL Server. Suddenly the power goes and the computer system turns off abruptly. The SQL database file on which you were working during the abrupt system shutdown is likely to be corrupted. Abrupt system shutdown can also cause hardware failure.

Internal Bugs

There’s almost no software application that doesn’t have internal bugs. Due to an internal bug, a software application or the entire system produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or it may start behaving abnormally or in unintended ways. Microsoft SQL Server also has some internal bugs which may cause serious problems. The internal bugs in SQL Server may cause corruption in the SQL database files.

Human Errors

As long as we’re human, we’re bound to make mistakes. Anything that we do wrong or the mistakes made by us are called human errors. Generally, human error is often cited as a cause of accidents. In computers, human errors are more dangerous than you can ever think. They include many mistakes that we make accidentally without realizing the consequences, such as deleting the system files, adding invalid or corrupted data, etc. Upgrading SQL Server incorrectly from the previous versions to a newer one is also included in the human errors.

How to Repair MDF File?

If you don’t repair the MDF file in time, the database corruption may turn into a fatal data loss situation. But if you have the backup of your SQL Server database, you don’t need to waste your time on the repair process. Since database files store the most valuable data, they’re highly crucial for businesses and organizations. Many companies back up their databases every day in order to protect them from accidental deletion or corruption. But a surprising number still don’t follow any backup strategy. So if you’re one of those who don’t take a regular backup, you must use a professional solution to repair the MDF file. Or, you can try an easy DIY trick to repair an MDF file before purchasing any paid solution. You can use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, a built-in tool on which you can run a couple of database console commands to repair MDF file.

There are many vendors in the online marketplace which provide MDF Recovery software. So it might be difficult for you to choose the best one. Generally, a 3rd party commercial ware tool is available with the free demo version. So before purchasing any such paid software, you must download the demo version for free evaluation. Most of the vendors of MDF Recovery software provide the free demo version. By using the demo version, you can scan the corrupt MDF file and check the preview of your recoverable data prior to saving. And if you’re satisfied with the results, then only you should purchase the software.

MDF Recovery Pro from SysInfo Software

SysInfo Software provides MDF Recovery Pro, one of the best SQL data recovery solutions available in the online marketplace to date. It can repair MDF file and restore SQL database objects like tables, triggers, indices, keys, rules, stored procedures, etc. from it. In the case of severe corruption, other MDF Recovery tools may fail to load the schema of the MDF database. Therefore, SQL data recovery seems to be impossible if you’re using any such ordinary MDF Recovery software. But this SQL Data Recovery software uses an advanced recovery algorithm. It allows users to upload a valid MDF file so that it can use the original schema from that file. And then, it recovers the data from the corrupt MDF file and creates a new file to save the recovered data.

Below are the prominent of this MDF Recovery tool:

• • Two recovery modes to handle a different level of corruption:

• • Standard and Advanced; Recovery of deleted records and advanced deleted records;

• • Support both ROW-Compression and PAGE-Compression levels within the MDF database;

• • Smart preview of the recoverable database objects prior to saving;

• • Save all the recovered data in a new MDF file or in the form of SQL scripts;

• Support MDF files created by all major versions of SQL Server including the latest 2017

Important note: Before purchasing this MDF Recovery Pro software, I strongly recommend you to download the demo version for free evaluation.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve discussed database corruption in detail and also learned its most common reasons. A corrupt SQL database file may lead to a data loss situation if you don’t repair the SQL database in time. The MDF Recovery Pro tool mentioned in this article is the smartest way to repair MDF files and restore SQL database objects as much as possible. However, one should always take backup in order to avoid data loss situations. Because if we have a backup, we don’t need to spend the money on any paid data recovery tool.

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