Matt, Thanks for the additional thoughts. I recommend - and do - most of what you suggest, but haven't been good about cloning after modifications and/or noting the last "clean" copy of the database. I'll change my evil ways right now.
Carl Matthew Scholtz wrote: > > Hey Carl, > > One more opinion. Clif is right, there are many long-time FMP developers who don't >trust the consistency check or recover very much. And given that FMI won't say >exactly what either of these will and will not catch/fix, I'm not inclined to >discount them. I too have seen very mysterious corruption creep into a file that >hadn't crashed (at least not recently...) > > I use the following guidelines for my own work. If I'm doing DEVELOPMENT work (i.e. >changing the structure of a database, writing scripts, making layouts, etc.) I go >back to backup after any crash, even if consistency check passes. (I backup >frequently.) My hunch is that there's probably nothing wrong, but due to the >non-modular nature of FMP development, if I'm wrong that could mean that all work >after that point could be corrupted. > > If I'm just USING a database, and there's a backed up clone somewhere (or other >archived copy of the full structure including all customizations) then I keep using >it if consistency check passes. Data loss is a less unforgiving problem than >corruption of the structure. > This is what I advise my clients as well. I usually also advise them to: check the >last record you were working on, spot check some other records, if you find any >problems go back to backup. Also: even if you keep using it, archive your most >recent backup BEFORE the crash, compress it and label it as BeforeCrash10-1-01 or >some such, and keep it around for a while just in case. > > I also sometimes run Recover as just a check, to see if it reports any errors found. > > There's two more cents for you. > > Matthew > > Matthew Scholtz > Database and Non-Profit Technology Consultant > Bellingham, WA > > Also associated with NPower, Seattle > www.npower.org > > ------------------ > Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to > http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email >address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org > --------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Carl Paulsen New Hampshire Rivers Council 54 Portsmouth Street Concord, NH 03301 603-228-6472 603-228-0423 Fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------
