How to Compact and Repair a JET Database

Symptoms

• The JET Database used by OfficeTalk is growing in size and you would like to recover space that is no longer in use in the file.
• OfficeTalk is reporting data access errors.

Resolution

It is recommended to periodically compact and repair your JET database file to help improve performace and to reduce file size by recovering space from deleted items.

If you are having problems with access to the JET data then a rebuild may correct this.

Detail

1. Stop any OfficeTalk clients on both the OfficeTalk server and the client computers.
2. Make a backup of your OfficeTalk database file. This is usually Otalk.mdb in C:Otalk.
3. Open the Data Sources (ODBC) applet in Control Panel (under Administrative Tools in the Control Panel) and select the System DSN tab.
4. Now click on the OTDB data source and click configure. Check the path on the Configure screen points to the file you have backed up. If not ensure this file is backed up before you continue.
5. Now click the Repair button. The default file name should be the same as the original file, click Ok to accept this. Once complete a message is displayed to confirm the repair has completed.
6. Now click on Compact. The default file to compact from should be the same file name you have just repaired. Click on Ok to continue. Also select the same file to compact into and make sure the format is set to Version 4.X (this defaults to 3.X so you must change it to 4.X) and click OK. Click Yes to replace the file and wait for the compact process to complete.
7. Close the Configure dialog and the Control Panel and restart the OfficeTalk server that was stopped earlier. Now open the OfficeTalk clients as required.