Microsoft Access Database unrecognized database format

Question

Dear forum users,

My grandpa created a database for his coins-collection back in 2007, last month after saving his last updates the file suddenly got corrupted. Microsoft access said that the database format was unrecognized (unknown database layout (translated from dutch). Sadly the last back-up he made of this file was a few years ago. He has/We have tried several things including repair programs, Microsoft basic recover and repair system (which doesn't work because it can't open the file),  opening in different versions of Microsoft Access. He only contacted me about this a few days ago so I don't know if the things he tried to do to open it may have corrupted the file more. I've seen that sometimes this happens if the file get's opened on multiple PC's and has been saved wrong after. He has assured me though that he worked on the file only from one PC and that the last time that he changed the files location was also a few years ago, in that time he has worked a lot on it without problems. It is an .mdb file and the latest version of Microsoft access that he currently works on is 2013, although he also has a 2016 version on it's laptop. So I can't be exactly sure if he really only used one PC, but I give him the benefits of the doubt. My question to you is if there is a way to access the file which I haven't been able to find yet. If not by myself, are there companies who offer to fix these files for a compensation? 

I thank you dearly for your time and help. 

With kind regards,

A grandson

Answer 1

Yep, sounds like corruption...

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/corruption/symptoms.htm

I would make a back-up, make another back-up and then first try importing everything into a new database.  Also, read this article...

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/corruption/retrievedata.htm

And after all of that I would finish off with this article…

http://allenbrowne.com/ser-25.html and see if any of those circumstances apply to you.

And when all else fails…

Data Recovery Services (I have never used them but I see them most mentioned when trying to recover data)…

http://www.pksolutions.com/t4.htm

and...

http://pauls-learningcurve.blogspot.co.uk/2012_07_01_archive.html