Ans: This is a modern age where computers are excessively used by every part of society. Computer is used to store data and information in file. And there are unlimited numbers of files inside a computer. DBF is one of them. It is a popular file format which can be easily created and used by all database programs such as Visual FoxPro, Clipper, dbFast, CodeBase, MultiBase, dbXL, and Arago etc. DBF files can also be opened in by MS Excel and MS Access. In 1979 this file format came into existence by C. Wayne Ratliff who was the developer of this file format.

In a DBF or database file data and information are well organized in tabular form. A DBF file has two parts: Fields and records. Each field holds a data while each record holds the value of the data. The data which is inside the field is based on information such as physical storage amount and the form in which the data to be saved. There are two kinds of records in a DBF file which are header record and data record. The information which describes the structure of the data in the file is contained by header record while the actual text of the fields is contained by data record in consecutive bytes.

DBF is becoming very popular among all users due to its wide availability and acceptance. But sometimes the DBF file which is created very easily gets corrupted all of the sudden. There could be many reasons by which a DBF file can be corrupted. But one is reason is very common which frequently occurs and that is Power Failure. A sudden power failure of system can cause DBF file’s corruption. And how, it is described below:

• Sometimes sudden power failure of system can be the cause of unexpected or sudden cancellation of Visual FoxPro application. And due to this the application and the files get corrupted.
• While using a DBF file suddenly the situation of power failure occurs and due to this the file couldn’t be saved and hence the file gets damaged or corrupted.
• Due to sudden system power failure the process of shutting down the system does not conduct or execute properly. And therefore the data such as DBF files inside the system can be corrupted.
• While creating DBF files or copying from others’ computers and if the power supply of system gets failed the DBF file will be corrupted.

Whenever the situation of sudden power failure occurred the result is always same: a corrupt DBF file. A corrupt DBF file is just useless because due to the corruption it becomes inaccessible. Though users try a lot to open or access a corrupt DBF file but they can’t be succeeded. Whenever users try to open a corrupt DBF file instead of opening some error messages are shown in the screen. Some of them are listed below:

• "Invalid database - please validate database".
• "Table ...has become corrupted. The table will need to be repaired before using again." "(Error-2091)".
• "Error 1103 or Invalid Seek Offset (ISO) error".
• "Memo File is Missing/Invalid".
• "ERROR [42S02] [Microsoft][ODBC Visual FoxPro Driver] File 'table.dbf' does not exist".
• "Error instantiating cursor objects. Could not find (table file name)".
• "Filename.dbf has become corrupted".
• "Unable to get header".
• "Table dBase not correct"

A corrupt DBF file can’t be repaired manually until users have a backup file for it. Or users have only one way to fix the problem which sometimes works or sometimes doesn’t. Whenever a DBF file gets corrupted users must re-install the database application and try to open the file in that newly installed application. Because sometimes the problem can be occurred due to the bad and unsupportable applications, so users must try other dbase applications.

And as an ultimate or effective solution users must use software program which is developed for DBF recovery. SysInfoTools DBF recovery provides users several advanced and unique features which help users to fix the problem of corruption from their DBF files. It allows users to perform the recovery of single or multiple DBF files at the same point of time and offers the fastest speed ever that means users can save their precious time.

While using this tool only very short point of time and few steps are required to perform the recovery action of DBF files.

• Step 1^st: Users need to select the DBF files from the system to start the recovery process.
• Step 2^nd: After selecting the DBF files users need to select the recovery mode according to their wish such as standard or advanced mode.
• Step 3^rd: After recovering the DBF files, recovered files’ list is shown. So users need to move on the next page.
• Step 4^th: After viewing the list of recovered files users can save them at their desired location by two saving option: save as CSV or save as TSV.

While recovering the DBF files this tool works as a read only application as it doesn’t affect or modify the data and files’ structure. So it is very safe to use this software tool to recover or repair the corrupt DBF files.

Some important tips to avoid database files’ corruption:

• First of all always use UPS (Unshielded Power Supply) device with your computer system. It helps users in the situation of sudden power failure or outage.
• Always create backup for DBF files which helps users to restore them when they get damaged or corrupted.