In article <1992Dec23.205824.1@cc.helsinki.fi> ppaunio@cc.helsinki.fi writes:
>I have recently bounced into problem of corrupted dBase IV files. They seem to
>be quite normal but somewhere in the file fields are filled with garbage.
>Rumour says that somewhere exists programs that are able to repare these kinds
>of files
In my experience, this is more than likely a hardware problem rather than a
dBASE problem. It could happen through something like a power outage or spike,
but is more likely caused by the File Allocation Table (FAT) being mucked up andallowing writes to an area that is being used by your database file. Copy the files to a different area of the hard drive or to a backup (tape or floppy, say)
and run a utility such as chkdsk or norton disk doctor. This may identify cross-linked clusters or the like, and will prompt you to repair them.
I don't know of any simple utility that will automatically remove corrupted data like this, since the definition of what constitutes corruption depends on what
you were trying to store in the file in the first place.
The newer versions of Norton Utilities include a routine that can analysze and troubleshoot dBASE files. This may be of some help.
