MS SQL Server Database: What Makes It Prone to Corruption and What Solutions You Can Implement?

MS SQL Server is undoubtedly one of the world's most famous relational database management systems. If you look at the large and small organizations, you will notice that most of them prioritize MS SQL Server to manage their data items professionally. Even though MS SQL Server is super useful and helps businesses store relevant and sensitive data items, some various corruption and errors sometimes outweigh the pros. When the SQL Server DB is corrupted, users will face multiple problems accessing their data. In such situations, you need to take the necessary steps to fix the issues as soon as possible to avoid severe data loss. In this article, we will discuss some common things that make the MS SQL DB prone to corruption, as well as some great solutions to fix the database.

Causes of SQL Server Database Corruption

The NDF and SDF are the two primary files of the SQL Database where the data items are stored in the .ndf and .sdf file extensions. However, just because they are capable of storing data items doesn’t mean they will help you all the time. Both the NDF and SDF SQL Server Database files are highly prone to corruption, and they can face severe corruption due to many reasons. Some of the most common causes of SQL Server Database corruption are:

• Failure of hardware to comply with the software properly. Conflict of hardware with software can also corrupt the SQL Server Database.
• Abrupt or improper shutdown of the system. As per Computer Hope, overheating power supply can cause this issue.
• Bugs in the SQL server
• Malware or virus attacks
• Irrelevant or frequent changes in the SQL server
• File header corruption
• Upgrade an older version to a newer version

These are the common reasons why MS SQL Server Database corruption takes place. When the DB is corrupted, all the files will become inaccessible to users. If users or administrators try to access the corrupted files, the MS SQL will throw different types of errors such as:

• Page-Level corruption
• Metadata corruption error
• MSG 824, 823, 825 error in the MS SQL Server
• Non-clustered index corruption error
• Table corruption error

These are the common errors you would face from the MS SQL database. If you want to ensure that the data files are not corrupted and lost permanently, you need to ensure you’re creating a backup of the files so that you can restore the SQL database without any issues.

How Can You Avoid SQL Server Database Corruption?

If you’ve faced SQL Database corruption and don’t know what to do, you’re in the right place. Many users believe that SQL Server Database is meant to be corrupted, and there is no way to avoid the corruption. We say that this is nothing but a myth. There are multiple ways through which you can prevent the MS SQL database from corrupting. Here are the solutions you should know:

• Make sure you never reboot the server. It might be tempting to reboot the server in cases where small problems appear. Remember that when you reboot the server, the NDF and SDF files of the SQL Server will become much more prone to corruption. Server reboot is one of the most common causes of MS SQL Server DB corruption.
• Take extra precautions with the shutdown process of the MS SQL server. In our opinion, you should never shut down the MS SQL Server unless it’s extremely necessary.
• Sometimes when MS developers introduce a new version of MS SQL, many users become so tempted that they consider upgrading to the newer version without thinking about the consequences. Newer servers are full of glitches and bugs. This is why you should create a backup before upgrading to the newer version.
• Don’t reconnect or connect the DB frequently.

Solutions to Fix SQL Server Database Corruption Error

MS developers always recommend their users take proper backups. In the event that the SQL Server DB is corrupted, the backup will prove extremely helpful as the users will be able to gain access to the data items without any issues. However, sometimes users forget to take backups and consider applying other options.

In such cases, you can run the MS SQL DBCC CHECKDB command to check whether the SQL Server database files are corrupted or not. This command will also help you fix the database corruption as per the severity. However, keep in mind that DBCC CHECKDB is not capable of repairing severe SQL Server Database corruption.

One of the best ways to fix database corruption is by using the MS SQL Server recovery tool. This software is extremely capable of solving the corrupted SQL Server issue without any backup. Not only will users be able to scan but also recover the views, tables, rules, triggers, functions, and other essential objects. This tool runs on an advanced algorithm that will allow users to gain access to their data files.

Conclusion

These are the causes of MS SQL Server Database corruption, as well as some great methods to fix the problem. Do you have any other questions? Make sure you comment below to let us know.