How to recover MDF file when you encounter Error 8910 in MS SQL Server 2000

Are you getting error messages repeatedly while working on a particular database in MS SQL Server 2000? If yes, then you should check the exact cause of these messages as there may be chances of database corruption. The database corruption can happen due to various reasons including virus infections, malfunctioning of the hardware components, abrupt or unplanned system shutdown while the database is open, etc, which could even make the database inaccessibile. In such cases, you should look for MDF file recovery using appropriate corrective methods, failing which you must use a third-party MS SQL Server recovery software to do the needful.

Let us consider a situation in which you are getting the following error message while working on an MS SQL Server 2000 database:

“Page P_ID in database ID DB_ID is allocated to both object ID O_ID1, index ID I_ID1, and object ID O_ID2, index ID I_ID2.”

Cause:

The most prominent reason behind this error is that the index definitions in the IAM pages have damaged.

Resolution:

To perform MDF recovery of the damaged SQL database, you should perform either of the following methods, ideally in the given sequence:

• Address hardware related issues: It may be possible that the error is occurring due to hardware corruption, which can be resolved using the following measures:

  • Fixing the issues that appear after running hardware diagnostics.

  • Swapping the hardware components to isolate the exact reason and fixing it.

  • Checking the Windows application log and the SQL Server error log to find out whether the error has occurred due to hardware malfunctioning.

  • Checking if the hard disk has write-caching enabled. If yes, then contact the hardware vendor to replace the hard disk.

• Restore from database: You should check the state of the database backup. If it is updated and clean, then you should restore the database with its backup.

• Run DBCC CHECKDB: If the backup is not clean, then you should run the DBCC CHECKDB tool with the suggested repair clause to recover MDF file.

If these aforementioned methods are unable to address the situation, then you would need to take the services of a third-party master database file recoverysoftware. With the use of read-only recovery mechanisms, these SQL recoverytools ensure that no type of data is lost or damaged during the recovery.