[Beds] database problem

[Jonathan Dye]

Lee Larcombe wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I know this is not particularly a linux question but I have a
> question about MS Access for any of you DBAs out there.
> 
> I am trying to port an existing MS Access database to MySQL
> which is going
> fine. However the Access DB which is currently still in use
> has just reached
> 100MB (well 100,929,536 bytes).
> 
> The problem is that even though data is being added (couple
> of hundred K per
> day) the database has reported the same size for the last three days.

It's possible that Access allocates disk space in chunks so that the
database file grows in (e.g.) 1MB increments but doesn't actually use the
allocated space straight away.  Therefore there might be a few hundred
kilobytes of allocated but not used space in the file which has graduadly
been used up over the last three days.  It's also likely that the OS is
allocating filesystem space in a similar way although probably in smaller
chunks.

> I don't know much about Access - is it possible to set an
> upper size limit when you create a database? This DB was 
> created by someone else a few years ago so I don't know 
> what they did.

I don't think so.  If there was such a feature then I can't see anyone
actually wanting to use it.

> If there is a size limit, what does access do when it is reached?

Which is the reason I don't think there is such a feature.  What should the
database do when it is full?

> This database won't be around much longer (3 weeks) but I
> don't want access screwing the data around between now and then
> 
> Well, thanks in advance - any help or info will be most appreciated


JD

_____________________________________________________________________
This message has been checked for all known viruses by the 
MessageLabs Virus Scanning Service