How to Perform Corrupted MDF File Recovery: A Way to Reborn

Approved By Aswin Vijayan

Published On January 22nd, 2024

Reading Time 5 Minutes Reading

Category sql server

Hello everyone, let’s start with an incident where I was surfing on my system and found that my database was not accessed due to some issues. When I searched for the database file I am incapable of accessing my MDF file for my database. Because of this, I lost very precious data which takes me in a lot of difficulties. Please help me with corrupted MDF file recovery.

Are you in related problems? If yes, congrats you are on the right platform. Here you can recover corrupted MDF file with the best methods. Let’s start with a basic review of the SQL Server database for a better understanding and then move to the solution to repair corrupt MDF file.

Overview of SQL Server Database

Every company needs a platform where they can securely store or retrieve their information no matter which entity the information is given. For this, we use SQL Server Database.

There are three file types used in the SQL Server database- MDF, LDF and NDF file. MDF files are known as primary database files used to hold the schema and data of a database below. LDF files contain logs of the transactions that occur in the database when we perform any Manipulation query. And NDF files are the secondary files that are used when the storage space of the MDF file got filled.

MDF file is considered the most important file of the SQL database if there is any damage or corruption in that file, it can cause the whole database to be corrupted.

Potential Reasons for Corrupted MDF Files

There are several reasons for MDF file corruption which are described below:

Hardware failure: This type of failure can be arises due to disk failure, power interruption and also due to bugs in Disk Driver.
Software problems: It can cause due to defection in the SQL server itself, changes in SQL server account, malware or viruses.
Users Fault: Users accidentally or unwillingly perform some sort of mistakes like accidental data deletion, storing the database in a compressed folder and many more.
Network Failure: When there is a network failure at the time when the SQL database is in use, it causes a Corrupted MDF file.

Manual Ways for Corrupted MDF File Recovery

Sometimes we can also repair corrupt MDF files free of cost with some methods which are described below:

#Method 1: Using DBCC CHECKDB Command

You can execute the DBCC CHECKDB command (built-in)

DBCC CHECKDB (Name_of _corrupt _database) with multiple options such as:

DBCC CHECK (name_of_corrupt_database, repair_fast)

DBCC CHECK (name_of_corrupt_database, repair_rebuild)

DBCC CHECK (name_of_corrupt_database, repair_allow_data_loss)

#Method 2: Using Backup File

If you have a backup of the database, you can easily restore the SQL database from a backup (.bak file). But before that make sure the database is in a healthy state.

But there are some limitations while using these manual methods:

The command ‘DBCC CHECKDB ‘command is often unable to recover major MDF file corruption.
You don’t need to always be ready with your backup for recovery while your MDL file got corrupted, you may not have your backup in hand while you need it.

Expert Solution for Corrupted MDF File Recovery

Ignoring or neglecting the issues in the MDF file can cause a fatal data loss situation. For the prevention of data, we have a tool named SQL Recovery. With the help of this, you can easily recover corrupted MDF file.

It provides various features that make it one of the best recovery tools which are listed below:

Advanced and faster scan functionality to repair corrupt MDF files and NDF files.
Can scan and recover multiple NDF files i.e. secondary database at once.
Can scan and recover triggers, rules, functions, tables, and stored procedures.
Export file into SQL Server Database, like SQL server compatible scripts, or CSV Format.
Option to recover and export deleted database items with any data loss.
Desired items selection to save the file with schema or schema & data both.
Recover SQL server 2019, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008/2008 R2, 2005, 2000 database files i.e. MDF/NDF.

Steps to Repair Corrupt MDF File Via SQL Recovery

Download and run the program on your machine for corrupted MDF file recovery.

Then, open the file which you want to recover (.mdf file).

Choose either the Quick or Advanced option and then select the SQL MDF file version.

Now, the scanning process will start and data Items that are stored in the corrupted file are displayed. Click on the Export button to export recovered data to the SQL Server Database.

Then, choose an Export option and fill in the required details. After this, click on the Export button.

Some Technical Errors Which This Tool Can Resolve

Here are some errors that users can face at the time of accessing the SQL server database because of a corrupted file:

SQL Server Table Corruption Error
Error 9004 in SQL server
SQL Server Page Level Corruption
The Msg 823 error in SQL Server
Msg 824 in SQL Server
Msg 825 (read retry) in SQL Server.

Here we learned about corrupted MDF file recovery.

We give the best results on how to repair corrupt MDF files manually or by an advanced method like the SQL Recovery tool. I ensure that this will help you to resolve your problem.