How to Recover SQL Database Efficiently?

Microsoft SQL Server database is one of the widely used and popular relational database management systems among the organizations and professionals. The simple and easy user interface along with advanced features make the SQL Server one of the best database management tools in order to manage large amount of data. SQL database uses three type files i.e., MDF (primary files), NDF (secondary files), and LDF (Log files). Apart from being such a useful software, the databases created by the SQL are also prone to corruption, which later on results in the inaccessibility of the data. Let us discuss the most common reasons behind corrupt MDF file and how a user can recover SQL database without any loss of data?

Why SQL Database Becomes Corrupted?

There can be several possible reasons behind damaged or corrupt SQL Server database. As you know MDF files are the primary files that store all important user data in it. If the MDF file becomes corrupted it will corrupt the entire database. Now, in the below section, we will discuss multiple reasons that result in corruption in MDF file:

• The complete storage media containing MDF files become corrupted.
• If SQL database is stored in the compressed folders, then also there are chances of corruption.
• The changes in the SQL Server account is also one of the major reason behind corruption.
• Accidental deletion of data sometimes leads to a corrupt database.
• Corruption in the file header
• There might be some bugs in disk drivers
• When database is in working state and there is a network failure
• Other reasons: hard disk failure, virus attacks, unexpected system shutdown, a sudden power failure can also be some of the reasons behind MDF file corruption.

Common Error Messages After MDF File Corruption

When MDF file becomes corrupted, the SQL Server database becomes inaccessible. If a user tries to access the database, it will display any of the following errors:

• MSG 823 error in SQL Server
• SQL Server Table Corruption Error
• MSG 825 (read retry) in SQL Server
• SQL Server Page Level Corruption
• Corruption on non-clustered indexes
• Corruption on data pages
• MSG 825 (read retry) in SQL Server
• Database consistency errors reported by DBCC CHECKDB

Different Manual Approaches to Recover SQL Database

In order to perform SQL database recovery, there are various manual approaches available that a user can use to repair corrupt MDF file and all of them are discussed below:

• Manual #1: A user can use the log files or NDF files of the SQL Server in order to restore the database. But, always keep in mind that only log files are not sufficient to recover SQL database from the severe level of corruption. Moreover, if backup files also get damaged, it becomes impossible to repair it manually.
• Manual #2: Another possible way to repair damaged or corrupt SQL database is with the help of database console commands i.e. DBCC CHECKDB and DBCC DEBREPAIR. Both of these commands are useful to resolve the minor level of corruption in SQL database corruption. But, it is not suitable to remove all type of corruption issues. Apart from this, the using database console commands require lots of technical knowledge that might confuse a non-technical user.

Alternative Approach to Recover SQL Database

As discussed above manual approaches are not a foolproof method to fix corruption in SQL database. Therefore, to overcome all the limitations of manual approaches, a user can switch to some third-party tool. One such application is SQL Recovery that remove all type of corruption issues from corrupt MDF file in just a few number of clicks. Moreover, it preserves the integrity of data while performing SQL database recovery. Apart from all this, the software is capable to recover SQL database of all versions of SQL Server 2016, 2014 and below versions.