Friday, March 12, 2010

How to Fix Access Database Files after Corruption Due to Opportunistic Locking?

What is Opportunistic Locking?
Opportunistic locking is a way to lock files and locally cache information. Clients can do this without having the risk of any alteration to the file made by another user. Opportunistic Locking is enabled by default for SMB clients i.e. for server message block clients that run on those Windows operating systems that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Opportunistic locking or Oplocks is basically a mechanism of Windows, which is designed for client/server databases. Oplocks allow several processes to lock the same file, and also, local data caching improves the performance over network.

Opportunistic Locking and Access Database Corruption
These Windows default settings can improve the performance of one type of client/server database; but, it can also harmfully affect database integrity of other type. This type of database corruption is also seen in MS Access databases.

The chances of Access database corruption increase if 'opportunistic locking' is enabled. This happens when the database file is accessed by numerous clients or shared among multiple clients on a network file server that is supporting “opportunistic locking.” At that time, corruption in Access database can occur. The same scenario can occur with clients running Windows XP or 2000 and are connected to a file server that is supporting this Oplocks feature.

How to Fix Corrupt Access Database?
To fix corrupt Access database, you can use third-party software. This is one of the most viable solutions to Fix Access database files and to recover Access database contents.

One such Access fix tool is SysTools Access Recovery software that uses high-end techniques and powerful scanning algorithms to fix Access files. Also, the easily understandable interface of this software does not require you to have any prior technical knowledge. Even novice users can confidently Fix Corrupt Access Database MDB files easily.