What to expect from ChimneySweep® when your database is broken now ...

Let's go straight for the bad news first:

• It is entirely possible that your data is irretrievably lost or damaged.
• If that is the case, there is nothing that this or any other tool can do to save or to recover it:   it is gone, for good.   Period.
• It is not possible to know in advance whether any recovery effort will or will not be successful.
• If you've already tried other table-repair tools first, the chances of a successful recovery are significantly reduced.
• We make no promises; no warranties; no guarantees.   Much as we might wish to, we can't.   No one can.

However...

• Your database system is a battle-proven workhorse, with tens of thousands of installations throughout the world.   It has earned its reputation for reliability.
• Many database failures do turn out to be easily recoverable.
• Remember that the database will attempt to stop you from using your tables further, when it has any reason to suspect that any inconsistency might exist.   This is done to protect your data from [further...] loss or damage until the table can be investigated and repaired.
• What you do next matters most.   Resist the urge to “just react.”

Stop.   Think.   Plan.

The first things that you do in response to a database failure will have the greatest impact on your eventual outcome.   Therefore, stop and think.

• If you have an Information Systems department, contact them immediately and wait for their response.
• Database applications, like all computer programs, are normally very predictable in their behavior until, and unless, “something happens.”   Therefore, a great deal of your attention should be focused upon determining what that “something” might possibly be.
• Consider what you know about what happened, when it happened, to whom it happened, and whether the problem appears to be “isolated” or “general.”
• Consider if other applications and/or systems are affected, and see if you can discern any possible pattern or common factor(s).
• In modern Windows® environments, not all users have the same access-privileges to files and directories.   It may be that a particular user's Windows login does not have the access-rights that your application needs.   If a problem appears to be isolated to one workstation, perhaps the actual problem isn't the workstation, but the user-account that is customarily logged-on to it.
• Modern Windows workstations and servers have an “Event Log” which records details of everything that happens.   You might find useful clues there.   (You may need Administrator privileges to view this log.)
• If a problem appears to be isolated, or if it appears to be network-related, then you may or may not have the appropriate electronic equipment needed to fully diagnose the problem.   (Even if “all the little lights are blinking,” there could still be a hardware problem!)   Seek professional assistance from a reputable local company specializing in hardware diagnostics and repairs.
• “Viruses,” and other forms of intentional malice, are actually very unlikely and you should not jump to that conclusion.

If you determine that the problem appears to affect only your database application, and that it appears to be consistent among all of the machines that have access to that application, then it is reasonable to assume that some kind of data-related problem could be the cause.   (But in a networked environment it is also reasonable to suspect a network, server, or login problem!)

ChimneySweep® is designed to detect and repair structural and other problems within the files that comprise your database.   It necessarily assumes that the filesystem on the disk is intact, and that the disk itself is working properly.   If records have been unintentionally deleted, unfortunately they are really gone.   If the records appear to be lost or damaged after an application failure, with no other obvious external factors present such as a thunderstorm or an electrical-power problem, the chances for recovery are more favorable.

A Paradox® database does not have a central “database server.”   (Even though the files may be stored on a central file-server, that server only provides basic file-sharing services and does not otherwise participate in database-related operations.)   All database operations are carried out by the individual workstations.   Therefore, any workstation that has been recently-added, recently-changed, or perhaps that is only infrequently used, is a strong suspect and should be examined closely.

• It should be running the same version of Windows as all the others do.
• Some default settings for Windows Vista™ may prove to be inappropriate.   Carefully review the information at Microsoft's technical-support site (accessible directly from the “Help” system on your computer) for information about application compatibility with your particular version of Windows.
• If you're using a third-party networking system such as NetWare®, the drivers and other configuration should be the same.
• The version of Paradox® and/or BDE™ (or IDAPI™) should be the same.
• Although Paradox database files cannot carry “viruses,” a virus scanner can cause disruptive traffic if it is programmed to scan “all files.”

Plan for “next time”

From now on, at least, you need to be mindful of having a solid recovery-plan.   What has happened to you just now can, and undoubtedly will, happen again.   Therefore you must have a well thought out plan for making current, reliable backups of your databases and other data.   ChimneySweep can help you in that effort by helping you to make consistent, known-good backups of your data, which can then be transferred to archival storage by your chosen system-backup software.   (Microsoft Backup,™ which is available on most current distributions of Windows, is an example of a very good and readily-available tool for this purpose.)