Techniques of Backing Up Split Access Databases

One of the most user-friendly features that you will find in Microsoft Office Access 2007 is the increased power of the Undo command. Using this command, you can undo up to twenty changes that you have made since the last time that you used the save command for the Access database file. However, a quick word of caution - the Undo command has certain limitations and you should not expect it to bail you out every time an error has been made. For instance, if you accidentally delete or change any data using an action query, you will not be able to reverse those changes using the Undo command. You will have to recover access data from previous backups to get back the records that were accidentally deleted.

Though the Undo command can very helpful in many situations and using this feature, you can reverse the changes in the database that you feel you should not have made, you cannot rely on it entirely since the Undo process is not foolproof. An action query is one that makes changes in the data - either by appending, deleting or updating the records. The Undo command will not be able to reverse the changes that you have made using an action query. The only way you will be able to recover from any unwanted changes you may have made in the database is by using backups to recover access data. It is in fact recommended that you make a backup of the database every time you intend to run an action query so that you can protect the data from any mistakes you might make; mistakes that the Undo command cannot reverse. This is especially true if your action query is going to make a lot of changes or delete a lot of data.

If you are using a database that contains a lot of valuable data, it is advisable that you split the database into a front-end and a back-end. The front-end will contain objects that the user will need to interact with the database such as forms and reports. The back-end on the other hand will contain the important data. Taking a backup of the database will mean taking backups of both the front-end and the back-end. Obviously, it is very important that you take more frequent backups of the back-end since that contains all the mission-critical data. There may not be many changes happening in the front-end and you may take backups of the front-end only when there is any change in the design of the forms or reports. This makes it easy for you to recover access data when the back-end gets damaged.


It is easy to backup both the back-ends and the front-ends of the database using the backup tools provided by Microsoft Access. Similarly, in case the Access database gets damaged, you can use the Access Database Repair tool to repair either the back-end or the front-end. If this tool cannot restore all the data, you still have the option of using a third-party tool such as Advanced Access Repair from DataNumen to recover data or the forms and reports.