mdf file in SQL 2012

coreybyrne

Hello everybody!
I’m working with sql database for couple months. Today I have opened it and see pop-up window: “The header for file 'xxxx.mdf' is not a valid database file header. The FILE SIZE property is incorrect.”

I don’t know what to do next, some ideas?

Thanks in advance!

NogDog

Pending some MS SQL expert chiming in here, best I can do is suggest some of these links, which look promising: https://www.google.com/search?q=SQL+2012+%22not+a+valid+database+file+header%22

kanthar821

Guide below will help you with usual corruption of sql server data, but if it can't assist, then you may look at following resources for getting more methods

https://www.repairtoolbox.com/sqlserverrepair.html SQL Server Repair Toolbox
http://support.oreilly.com/oreilly/topics/it_seems_our_sql_database_is_corrupted?rfm=1
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1602448-266-1.aspx

Sometimes when you connect to your database server, you may find it in suspect mode. Your database server won’t allow you to perform any operation on that database until the database is repaired.
A database can go in suspect mode for many reasons like improper shutdown of the database server, corruption of the database files etc.
To get the exact reason of a database going into suspect mode can be found using the following query,
DBCC CHECKDB (‘YourDBname’) WITH NO_INFOMSGS, ALL_ERRORMSGS
Output of the above query will give the errors in the database.
To repair the database, run the following queries in Query Analyzer,
EXEC sp_resetstatus ‘yourDBname’;
ALTER DATABASE yourDBname SET EMERGENCY
DBCC checkdb(‘yourDBname’)
ALTER DATABASE yourDBname SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
DBCC CheckDB (‘yourDBname’, REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS)
ALTER DATABASE yourDBname SET MULTI_USER
And you are done.

noelle5684

Hi,coreybyrne

When a MDF database file is corrupt, you can first use the SQL Server build-in command DBCC CheckDB and CheckTable to repair it, see:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms176064.aspx

and

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174338(v=sql.110).aspx

to get more information about the commands. This is the recommended solution which you should try first.

If the corruption is severe and the above commands do not work, then you may try some third party tools to scan and recover the data from your corrupted MDF and NDF database files. Below is a list of SQL recovery tools:

https://www.datanumen.com/sql-recovery/compare.htm

The list seems to rather comprehensive that including nearly all the popular tools in the market. And all the tools provide a free demo so you can try before you purchase.

Hope this will help. Good luck!