Damaged databases can cause Access users a lot of anxiety since there is always a fear that some of the data in the damaged database might be lost. However, by understanding how to use the recovery tools that Access provides, you may be able to repair the database and restore data. Sometimes, these standard repair utilities fail to recover the databases and one may have to turn to an unsupported database compacting utility called Jet Compact Utility. Finally, if none of these options prove successful, you might have to use an advanced Access recovery application such as Advanced Access Repair from DataNumen for effective MDB recovery.
Typically, MS Access detects that an Access database is corrupted or damaged when you try to open the database (MDB file). It will then automatically open up a dialog box giving you the option of choosing to repair it. You can use this dialog box to start the repair process. Sometimes, this dialog box does not come up even though the file proves inaccessible and you suspect that it has been damaged. In such a case, you can start the repair process manually. Just go to the main Tools menu in Access, from there to Database Utilities and then click on the Compact and Repair Database option. This should help you select the database you believe is damaged and start the MDB recovery process. Finally, you can try running the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code that runs the CompactDatabase method of either Microsoft Access Objects viz., DAO or the Jet and Replication Objects viz. JRO.
Once in a while, all the three standard compact and repair utilities fail in repairing the damaged database. You could then try using another database-compacting utility called The Jet Compact Utility, provided by Microsoft Product Support but which, when last heard of, was still unsupported. The standard utilities try to open and then close the database before compacting and then repairing it. If the database cannot be re-opened, obviously all attempts at compacting will fail and the database cannot be recovered. On the other hand, The Jet Compact Utility does not try to open and close the damaged database. It is therefore successful in places where the standard utilities may have failed.