Dealing with errors is always very frustrating. If you don’t fix them in time, you’re likely to face serious problems sooner or later. Just like any other computer application, Microsoft SQL Server is also prone to errors. Being a server administrator (SA), you can encounter some error messages at any time while working on the database. One such common error is, “Microsoft SQL Error 3456”. And due to this SQL Server error, the MDF database usually goes to the suspect mode. Whenever an MDF database goes to the suspect mode, this means the database has some corruption issues which need to be resolved in time. In this very article, I’m going to share the most possible ways to troubleshoot the SQL error 3456.

Microsoft SQL Server is a popular relational database management system (RDBMS) that has a primary function of storing and retrieving the data as requested by other software programs. But sometimes users may face troubles while working with SQL Server. During the usage of an MDF database, various problems may arise.

SQL Error 3456

Generally, SQL Server uses two databases: MDF is the primary one, and NDF is the secondary one. Any sort of issue in any of these two database files can lead to severe error messages.“SQL error 3456” is one such common error message which you may encounter.

The additional information in this error message tells you to either restore the database from a backup or repair it. But before that, you should know the reason responsible for this SQL Server error. If the master database or the MDF file has some corruption issues, you’re likely to encounter this SQL error 3456. If the transaction log gets corrupted due to any reason, this might be another reason for this SQL Server error. If you have the backup, you can restore the complete database from it.

If you have the valid backup for the MDF database, you can simply run a restore statement. And to do that, you need to use the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. I’m showing you the steps below which you need to follow:

Step 1: First, run Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio as administrator.

On the taskbar, click the View tab > Object Explorer. Or simply press F8 key.

Step 2: On the Object Explorer section, right-click the Databases in the tree-structure and click Restore Database… in the options.

Step 3: On the Restore Database window, you need to define the backup source.

Click the Browse button in the device section.

Step 4: On the Select backup devices window, select the source device here.

Note: If there’s no device available, click the Add button to add the device(s).

Step 5: Select the backup file and click OK.

Step 6: Now select the destination and restore plan. Finally, click OK.

Basic Troubleshooting Tips for SQL Error 3456

But if there’s no backup available, you must repair MDF file. Generally, a professional SQL Repair tool is considered the best solution to repair MDF file. However, there are few DIY tricks which definitely deserve a try. So before you can get any 3rd party software, you should try the DIY tricks to repair MDF file.

Use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio can also be used to repair MDF database. How? On SQL Server Management Studio, you need to a run couple of database console commands (DBCC) to check the logical and physical integrity of all the database objects in a particular MDF file. DBCC DBREPAIR and DBCC CHECKDB are the commands you need use. Refer to this article to learn how to repair MDF file by using the database console commands.

Use SQL Repair tool

The DBCC commands can only fix minor corruption issues. In a case of severe corruption, you must switch to a professional solution like SQL Repair Tool. It can effortlessly repair MDF file and restore the database objects from it. Via this software, you can successfully repair both MDF and NDF files without requiring any prior technical expertise. Being an easy-to-use application, any technical or non-technical user can use this software with ease. It supports all popular versions of Microsoft SQL Server including the latest 2017 (v14.0).

Before purchasing the software, you must download its demo version for free evaluation. By using the demo version, you can repair MDF file and check the preview of your data which you can actually recover from it. And if you’re satisfied with the results, then only you should purchase the licensed version.

Below steps are mainly required to repair MDF file by using this SQL Repair tool:

Step 1:Launch SQL Repair tool on your system. Now click the Browse button to select the MDF file.

Step 2:Select the corrupt MDF file you want to repair. Click Open to confirm the file selection.

Step 3: Select the recovery mode: Standard or Advanced. Also, choose the collation option, i.e. either auto-detect, or define manually. Click OK to continue the process.

Step 4: The file scanning process is being conducted on your system. Please wait until it completes.

Step 5: Within a few seconds, the scanning process will be completed. Click OK.

Step 6: Now expand the data and its objects to check the preview of your data which you can actually recover.

Step 7: Select the database objects which you want to save, and click the Save button. Define the saving options and click OK.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve shown you how to repair MDF file to troubleshoot SQL error 3456. And if you the backup, you can simply restore the database from it. When nothing works, you should always look forward to a professional solution like MDF Repair tool.