Informix-SE and bcheck

Hi, I have a question regarding the bcheck utility for Informix-SE. The manuals that come with Informix are a bit slack in providing technical details as to what exactly bcheck does, or how it works, or even exactly what the errors mean. I'd like to know what exactly it does when it "repairs" the database - if it fixes the data and indexes to be consistent then thats great, but if it deletes data to get everything back in sync, then it is useless. For example, I had a (large) datbase table reporting the following error: ERROR: 285593 missing data record pointer(s) Fix data record free list ? I answered 'y' to repairing the problem, and it seemed to work ok - but what has it actually done to "fix" the problem? I was tossing up whether to restore the database from a backup to be safe. If anyone can answer it or point me at a source for more info, it would be much appreciated. Corey.

Corey Yeatman wrote: > I have a question regarding the bcheck utility for Informix-SE. <snip> > I'd like to know what exactly it does when it "repairs" the database - if it > fixes the data and indexes to be consistent then thats great, but if it > deletes data to get everything back in sync, then it is useless. It never deletes data. It fixes indexes when they are corrupt. It generally can't fix corrupt data, because it can't tell what the correct data would be. > For example, I had a (large) datbase table reporting the following error: > > ERROR: 285593 missing data record pointer(s) > Fix data record free list ? Probably some kind of internal pointer to where free and used records are within the .dat file. It won't have changed any of your data, only updated the pointers with correct information about where there are rows and where there aren't. Alan used to be the SE/bcheck expert, AFAIK. (Yoohoo... Alan... I know you're out there, making wisecracks about my passport.) But he's so old now, he may have forgotten ;-) June -- june_t@hotmail.com Grounded in Palo Alto, living on KitKat bars