How To Resolve SQL Server Page Level Corruption (A Manual Repair Guide)

A guide where we will be discussing today on how to resolve SQL server page level corruption or SQL database page level corruption

SQL database is one of the most popular and sought after server which most of us look for. It features an advanced interface which make it simple and one of these easiest servers to use. Being a small corporation or big organization, most of us use SQL servers for storing our data and then using these saved data’s later.

But there are bugs which most of us face in our MS SQL databases. And one of them is data corruption. SQL data corruption can occur anytime. There are various precautions you may take but detecting it at an early stage and then resolving it, is the best way to go. If you are confirmed that corruption has started taking place in your MS SQL server database, then there are some techniques with which you can recover your corrupted SQL database files easily.

If you are a user or even an administrator then your life is not that easy every time. You will be facings bugs and errors while using your SQL server and one of the most troublesome errors which most of us fear about is SQL Server page level corruption or SQL database page level corruption. It is a nightmare for many of us. Page corruption in SQL server can hinder or damage your data by making it inaccessible. Even administrators with full rights cannot access it.

So how to resolve SQL Server page level corruption?

The only way is to understand reasons, causes, precautions you may take and the solutions that can help you resolving SQL database page level corruption.

Reasons Of SQL Server Page Level Corruption

SQL database stores its data in pages so the basic unit of storage is a page in SQL database server. SQL database stores its files in MDF and LDF extensions. And all these MDF and LDF files are divided into several thousand pages and then each of this pages has its own location on the server. During corruption, the pages of your SQL server starts getting infected one by one.

And being an expert, I would suggest you to resolve this SQL database corruption issue one by one. Because it is simple and quite easy to fix SQL database corruption issues by repairing individual pages.

But before repairing or trying to resolve SQL database page level corruption, you first  need to understand the reasons:

Hardware Malfunction

One of the major causes for Page corruption in SQL database is a hardware malfunction. If your hard disk is facing issues or you see any hardware errors. It is always a good idea to resolve it as soon as possible. As it might lead you to page corruption in SQL database. So you should regularly keep a track of your server box, hard disk and other hardware’s to stay away from corruption.

Virus Infection

Even virus infection is also a big reason for SQL Server page level corruption. If your system has a virus in it, then there are great chances that your SQL server pages would get infected. So take care, while downloading software and attaching any hard drive to your system.

Interruption In Power Supply

Any kind of power shut down when your database is running may lead to page level corruption. So you always have to ensure that when your SQL database is running, power supply remains regulated.

Updates Or Patches

I guess we all know, the importance of updating your server with new and advanced patches in keeping your server healthy. Not updating your server with advanced patches or even updating it with wrong updates may also lead to SQL database page level corruption.

And if due to any such reasons, if you face issues or errors.. then start taking a backup of your files.

You may also read: 07 Best Password Recovery Tools That No One Is Ever Going To Tell You

 

How To Fix SQL Database Page Level Corruption

Before backing up the database and pages, I would suggest you to download a Data Comparison tool and a Text comparison tool from the internet. Both these tools will help you in comparing the original data and the corrupted data side by side.

• To compare the differences between the original file and the corrupted files use the Text comparison tool
• Now run DBCC CHECKDB command on your corrupted files. This command will help you in checking and analyzing the files, displaying the location of the corrupted files and would also suggest you the minimum requirements needed to repair those corrupted pages/files.
• Switch on the trace flag 3604 first as you run the DBCC PAGE command.

DBCC TRACEON (3604)

DBCC PAGE ( {‘dbname’ | dbid}, filenum, pagenum [, printopt={0|1|2|3} ]) 

1. It would print your page header
2. Page Header with complete page hex dump
3. Page header with per row hex dumps
4. And with detailed per row interpretation
5. So now as you know, the location of the infection or corruption. Now use the text comparison tool to analyze and compare both the files i.e. corrupted file and the backup files
6. And with the help of data comparison tool, you can compare the corrupted page with the original page. With this you can compare the data’s side by side
7. Now run the DBCC CHECKDB command and repair and restore your files. If you did it correctly then you are not going to face any issues.

 

Hope now you know how to fix SQL Server page level corruption. But there are some drawbacks too of this method.

• One of the main drawbacks of this technique is that it might not help you in recovering or opening up your pages if it has to repair pages in multiple locations or if a large is corrupted.
• This solution takes time to resolve this kind of error and you will need to practice it before doing it correctly.

A Better Approach

Yes, the above-mentioned approach is quite good but due to its complexity, many users tend to prefer a third party tool to resolve SQL Server page level corruption or SQL database page level corruption. And one of the most widely us software is SQL Database Recovery.

Download Now

This tool is one of the most advanced and easy to understand and simple to use recovery tool. Which can resolve any types of corruption from your database. It has been termed as one of the best tools available in the market as it can even recover your corrupt MDF and NDF files with ease. And the best part is they have a free version too which let users evaluate its effectiveness by using it.

So do give it a look.

Hope these above tips helped you in resolving you page corruption issue. If need any help …do mention it in the comment section

Related Post