MySQL is an open source RDBMS (Relational Database Management System). It is widely used all over the world because of its high reliability and improved security. It provides us with a variety of database development and management tools and has the flexibility to work on more than 20 platforms. It is highly suitable for applications which are built on the new technology LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python). MySQL users often face corruption issues due to various reasons, such as index file corruption, application bugs, operating system errors etc. Due to corruption, the database becomes inaccessible and you lose all the precious information stored therein. To overcome the problem, you need to go for MySQL recovery through a reliable third-party utility.

For instance, you have MySQL 5.0 installed on your system. When you try to run the 'myisamchk' command on one of your database tables, you may come across the following error message:

“clients are using or haven't closed the table properly.”

Cause:

The above error occurred due to improper closing of the MyISAM index file for the corresponding table. This may happen due to anyone of the following reasons:

You are trying to copy MyISAM table without issuing the 'Lock Tables' and 'Flush Tables' commands. You ran 'myisamchk' command on the table while the MySQL server was using the table. The application crashed unexpectedly when the MyISAM table was being modified. The table is used by multiple MySQL servers at the same time.

Resolution:

To resolve the issue and recover MySQL database table, try anyone of the following methods-

Use CHECK TABLE command: It would check the MyISAM table for identifying errors related to corruption. Use the following syntax: CHECK TABLE tablename;

Use REPAIR TABLE command: You can use this command to repair your corrupt MyISAM table as follows: REPAIR TABLE tablename;

If these resolution steps fail to fix the problem, you should take help of an efficient MySQL database recovery software. These software safely recover all the damaged MySQL atabase components, such as tables, views, indexes, keys etc. without causing any harm to the original database.

MySQL Database Recovery is an excellent utility that repairs InnoDB and MyISAM tables created in MySQL 3.x, 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x versions. The software displays preview of all the recoverable database components. It also incorporates a feature to save the recovery details in a log file. Furthermore, it is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and 2000.