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How to Repair a Corrupt SQL MDF File Manually & Professionally

Admin | File Repair How to's Technology | 5 minutes read | Last updated on February 8th, 2023,

Guide to solve how to recover data from corrupt MDF file SQL Server query because database files have lots of crucial information and therefore all of them are important for entire SQL Server users.

Today, lots of organizations are using MS SQL Server and it is also in trend to save entire business data & information. It supports advanced internal structure & provides effective consistency. But sometimes, SQL Server Database is corrupted and all stored data becomes inaccessible because of virus infection, corrupt file system, operating system failure. Recovering MDF files from corruption and save in SQL Server process is not a simple task.

Lots of users may use manual tricks to solve how to fix corrupted MDF file of SQL Server query but it is not an exact SQL Database Recovery solution because there may be chances to lose your data by manual way. Moreover, Cubexsoft SQL Database Recovery Tool can also recover .mdf file from SQL Server without any data loss and provide complete recovery outcome within few moments.

So, in this write-up, we are describing about best solutions to repair & recover corrupted / deleted SQL MDF files. But before knowing about the recovery solutions, let’s get some information about the basic reasons of MDF file corruptions of SQL Server.

Reasons for SQL Server Database (MDF file) Corruption

Lots of SQL Server Corruption reasons may occur among users. We know that MDF files are the primary database files of SQL database Server. It stores all users’ data of SQL Server, therefore any corruption of MDF files may corrupt all SQL database of users. So, first of all; we will discuss entire possible causes of MDF file corruptions.

  • Damaged disk drivers.
  • Some changes or modifications have done in SQL Server account.
  • Corruption availability in storage device where MDF files are saved.
  • Anybody may have deleted data by mistake.
  • If files metadata is corrupted then its outcome is corruption in MDF file.
  • If anyone saved SQL database in compressed mailbox, then there may possibility that MDF file become corrupted.
  • If SQL Server Database is in use & if the network fails then it leads to corruption in MDF file.
  • There may be other reasons too which are responsible for MDF file corruption such as – hard disk drives failure, virus attack, suddenly system shutdown, unexpected power failure, etc.

If the MDF file of SQL Server is corrupted and SQL database becomes inaccessible, then a user tries to open or access the corrupted SQL database MDF file, it may display some error messages. Almost time the encountered error message is listed below –

  • Header of data files corruption error.
  • Corruption in storage device where MDF files are saved.
  • Message 823 error in SQL Server/ MSG 824 in SQL Server / MSG 825 (read retry) in SQL Server.
  • Anybody may have deleted some data files by mistake.
  • If anybody has saved their SQL database in compressed folder, then there may possibility that MDF file become corrupted.

Aside from this entire thing, there may some other error messages that anybody may get while using a corrupt SQL database. So it is duty of SQL database administrator to act immediately & prevent any type of data loss.

How to Repair a Corrupt SQL MDF File Manually

There may lots of manual tricks available to recover corrupted SQL Server Database MDF files but it is fact that manual tricks are not a perfect & suitable solution for guarantee SQL MDF database file recovery.

For single process to repair corrupt database, users can go with NDF files (log files) of SQL Server. But only log files (.ndf) are not effective or efficient to restore & repair SQL database in most corruption cases because sometimes, SQL backup files also become corrupted in major corruption. On the other hand, DBCC CHECKDB is a database console command which help to repair & recover corrupted SQL database and it is another possible way to do this task.

Working Steps to manually Recover data from Corrupt MDF File by DBCC CHECKDB Command

Firstly, you have to run DBCC CHECK DB command on the damaged SQL Server Database by performing the following query –

Note: users can also describe some functions such as no_infomsgs & infomsgs with DBCC CHECK DB and then you need to verify the Index ID.

  • Case 1: If index ID > 1, skip it and generate it again.
  • Case 2: if index ID is 0 or 1 then run DBCC CHECK DB again with the appt repair functions such as repair_rebuild, repair_allow_data_loss.

Then, for ensuring zero corruption, perform DBCC CHECKDB & a message is appeared such as DBCC CHECKDB appear 0 allocation errors and 0 consistency error in name_of_your_corrupt_database.

What Do If Manual Way Fails?

Manual tricks are not a complete & always infallible method. It may have lots of limitations or drawbacks. Such as, if MDF files of SQL Server have lots of corruption then manual trick can be failed easily.  However, manual tricks needs users to be absolutely technically strong and any skip steps may lose your database. Therefore, it is suggested to try some other effective utilities to solve how to fix corrupted MDF files of SQL Server. SQL Recovery Software is one of the effective and best tool to solve any type of SQL corruption issues of MDF files.

The SQL Repair tool is proficient to recover damaged SQL Server database files – MDF & NDF. It is completely risk-free solution to repair entire data items such as rules, functions, tables, triggers, etc. besides from all that, the program can repair the corrupted database in few clicks without wasting your time.

Simple Steps to Repair SQL Database MDF Files

  • Download & launch the SQL MDF File recovery tool on your computer.

  • Now open the corrupt .mdf file of SQL Database.

  • Then choose scan function and hit on OK button.

  • The software displays all items of your corrupted MDF File, after recovery.

  • Now click on Export button to save the repaired items of SQL database files.

Conclusion

SQL database files are very crucial for all users, because they save all information. Any corruption of SQL Server database files issue may be major issue for users. Therefore, to sort out entire problems, we have explained both professional & manual way to solve how to repair a corrupt SQL MDF file of SQL Server query, now its your turn to decide and go with any solution.