File size the same after major deletions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Desperate in Danbury
  • Start date Start date
D

Desperate in Danbury

Greetings,
I use Access 2000 and have been handed a database created
in a prior version. I'm not COMPLETELY unfamiliar with
Access, but this is the first time I've used it.
The database has an unusual setup and I'm not sure how best
to proceed, I'm hoping someone here can advise me.

It's set up with an .mde file that is used as the User
Interface and an .mdb file that is the 'actual' database.
To enter data, you run the mde file which pops up a data
entry form, and all data is actually stored in the mdb file
(It's a linked table).

There are two passwords, if you enter the User password,
you're greeted with the Form View of the input page and
don't have access to anything else. If you enter the Admin
password you see the view that shows the object list
(queries, forms, etc) on the left and the actual objects on
the right. You have, at that point, full power to do as
you please.

The mde file was created by someone with little experience
and he never deleted ANYTHING he'd created "just in case"
which means that the mde file is 90Meg (while the database
itself is about 3 Meg). The HUGE mde file seemed to slow
things down, so I started stripping things away and got to
the core of what we actually use. All is well up to this
point.

Even though I've stripped a TON of stuff out, the mde file
STILL shows up as being 90 Meg, and I can't seem to find a
way to make it shrink (I tried Compact & Repair, but after
letting it sit halfway through the compact for nearly an
hour, figured I wasn't getting anywhere and closed Access).

Not to be deterred, I created a NEW file and simply copied
over the objects that I need from the original. What WAS
90Meg is now 1.8Meg... good news. But I can't figure out
how he set up the two passwords. I know both, of course,
but since I signed in using Admin, it only seems to let me
see the Admin stuff. I can't get my new, smaller mde file
to password-prompt the same as the original file. Since I
can simply open the mdb file and edit it, it appears it's
not password protected, only the mde file (I think he
converted the other to mde just to make it very clear which
one is which).

SO... any ideas on how to either get the original that I
trimmed 'compacted' so that it's not 90 Meg or figure out
how to set up dual password entry with each password giving
a different view and permissions???

Any help would be appreciated,

Desperate
 
When you tried to compact the front-end, was it on your local computer or on
a mapped network drive? I had a database over 300Mb that I tried to compact
on a network drive and gave up after 45 minutes. I copied it to my local
computer and it finished a lot faster. I'm sure it would have eventually
finished on the mapped drive, but I was impatient.

Typically, I'd guess the larger the database, the longer it would take to
compact. :)
 
What you said made sense, so I did as you suggested. wow.
less than 30 seconds!

Alas. it still reads 90 Meg. Hmmmm.. well, it's fortunate
that it's working, and seems to be doing fine so I can
spend time looking into this.

Thanks

Desperate One
 
To figure out what the original person did, do you have the original Access
database that was used to create the mde front end file?


--
David Hodgkins, MCSD, MCDBA, MCSE
JSTAR Software Solutions
4402 Sweet Cherry Ln.
Kalamazoo, MI 49004
www.jstarsoftware.com - Home of AutoCompact for Access Databases
269-382-2931
 
Embedded graphics can cause a database to grow out of proportion to the size
of the graphics files.
 
Good point--one that I forgot to ask about. My 300Mb file was actually
saving jpg images for name badges. Once I removed that field and started to
store the path to the image file instead of the image itself, the db was
less that 10Mb after compacting.
 
Appreciate the idea, unfortunately I've one graphic and
it's a small file.
The 'new' file I created by copying only the 'core'
objects is only 1.8 Meg (and works fine, except for that
pesky dual-password/dual-permissions thing), so I'm pretty
sure that what I'm dealing with is that I deleted the
objects, but (as with file deletion and message deletion
in OE and Outlook), the information is still there, just
not associated.

Outlook and OE have 'clean up this folder' functions to
get rid of the unassociated data, I'm kinda trying to
figure out how to do that here.

Desparate
 
I've got the latest revision of both the mdb and it's
resultant mde, and bunches of old revisions (When I
update, I save the old someplace so I have it if needed).

I don't know if I have his original 'from day one' file,
but I might.

I've been trying to 'work backwards' with the password
thing in hopes of figuring out the settings, but can't
find a way for the Admin account to set one Start-up
option for itself and another for the users.

If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Desparate
 
Hi,

I see where you deleted stuff and the MDE was still the same size.
What I didn't see was any reference to a compact and repair on the MDB
and subsequently making an MDE from it.

HTH
 
Larry,
Ah HA! That was IT!! Boy.. I wish I'd read your post
BEFORE I went home for work Friday, this has been driving
me batty!!

So, yes, I'd been working with the mde file. I STILL
don't know the difference between an mde and an mdb, so I
was working with the end result, not what made it!

I read your post, opened up my latest copy (I do ALL my
work on copies, just in case) and dropped it to just over
2 Meg. Given that, I'm guessing that an mde file has
stuff 'locked' so it's always there.

Thanks, definitely helped (I don't have to try to figure
out dual-passwords). Thanks!

Shane
 
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