Stellar Phoenix Access Database Repair Review

I was approached by Stellar Phoenix to review their Access Database Repair software.

After performing a few tests, here are my thoughts on the matter:

Password Encrypted Files

The first hurdle that I faced was the fact that I encrypt most of my databases with a password. Sadly, Access Database Repair cannot work with such files! To me this is a major limitation.

Recovering Deleted Records

One of the nice feature was the fact that Access Repair offers the ability to recover deleted records. That said, the way in which it works had me very confused. It offers no way to reinserted the deleted records back into the originating table, but rather one must save the recovered database in which a new table will be created with the deleted records. It is not the way I would have built the software, but it does work and then you can use queries to recover the records of interest.

As per other freely available recovery techniques, it is impossible to recover deleted records once a database is compacted.

File Corruption

File corruption comes in all sorts of shapes and forms. One form of corruption that I recently was faced with was the fact that an unknown user had erroneously open an MS Access database in MS Word (why, I have no clue). By doing so, the MS Access database became corrupted and no longer functioned. I then checked with fellow MVPs and was surprised that this occurs more often than I thought. So I decided to try to recover a recently corrupted database using Stellar Phoenix, but it was unable to recover the file stating:

I also tried to repair a database which had a corrupted form. What the exact nature of the form corruption was is unknown to me, but I do know that it became corrupted. Sadly, Access Database Repair was unable to fix the problem.

I then sent an e-mail to my point of contact at Stellar Phoenix to ask for clarifications and below was the list of corruptions that they claim Access Database Repair Addresses:

Symptom 1: Cannot open a form or report
Symptom 2: Number of records varies, depending how the data is sorted (index corruption)
Symptom 3: Some table rows show ‘Deleted’
Symptom 4: Memo field contains strange characters.
Symptom 5: “An error occurred while loading Form_FormName”
Symptom 6: “Error Accessing File. Network Connect May Have Been Lost”
Symptom 7: “AOIndex is not an index in this table”
Symptom 8: Key field is no longer primary key, and relationships are gone

Conclusions

I’m not sure what to think. I will need to do further testing to truly know how effective a tool Access Database Repair truly is.

My other thought on the matter is that in many cases, the solutions to many (if not all) of the symptoms is freely available and various resources exist to help. For instance:

For me, corruption, the possibility of corruption, simply reinforce the critical importance of Backups for all files (not just MS Access databases)! By implementing a proper backup strategy, the repair of corrupted files becomes unnecessary.

Update 2017-12-01 – Deleted Record Recovery

I decided to give the software a go as I always feel bad giving a product a bad review. Sadly, things did not go any better. I had a file in which the user had erroneously deleted records, so I thought this would be a prime test. The db itself was fine and still fully usable, but some records were deleted and no compaction had been performed yet. I selected the file, it ran it’s analysis and I received the following (look at the console message at the bottom)

This file is not a valid MS Access file.

So I don’t know what else to say. It doesn’t seem to work even with a healthy accdb?

more to come…

11 responses on “Stellar Phoenix Access Database Repair Review”

Richard Menon February 13, 2015 at 12:48 am

I used the product and it worked perfectly. I think all repair product have some or the other limitation.
This product was quite successful in my case.

Richard Menon

Daniel Pineault Post authorFebruary 14, 2015 at 11:43 am

I won’t argue that most software has limitations, but having a tool to fix corrupt Access databases which can not handle password protected databases is more than a limitation. EVERY single database I deploy is password protected! It is the very bare minimum that should be implemented to minimally secure the data contained within.

Anyways, I am glad it worked successfully for you, but this remains a rather huge limitation for the vast majority of potential users and definitely something to be aware of before looking any further at the product!

Landon May 22, 2015 at 9:46 am

I used this software and works fine, but it has limitation, for example, it can not recover other file as memo, ole, macros, modules, relations and the referential integrity. Is good for a minor corruption, but I think all program have some limitations.

Dont November 29, 2017 at 8:59 am

I needed to repair an access database. I found this software on the internet and downloaded the demo. It just showed that it found errors and implied it would repair the file. The demo version does not do any repairs. I contacted them and they said the full version would repair the file. When my client gave me the go ahead to repair the file, I purchased this software. It did not repair the file, it in fact made it worse. The file functioned before the repair, but had some minor issues. After repair with this software it does not work at all. I contacted there tech support and they just ask a lot of questions. I answered them and then they moved it to advanced tech support. They did the same, just asks questions, but nothing to try and do to resolve, The software has no options, just select file and press repair. There refund policy they claim is that if they cannot repair the file they will refund. Next they asked for me to send them the file so they will repair it. My client will not allow me to send them the file as it has proprietary information. I keep asking them to provide me with any other steps to have their software repair the file and they will not offer any, they just keep telling me to send them the file and no refund. I asked for a refund less than 24 hours after purchasing this software. I feel there practices are very deceitful and improper. Eventually I called Microsoft and they repaired the file.Desired Settlement: I am not really concerned about a refund. My main objective is to make other consumers aware that this company is a scam and does not provide a product that works and will not properly stand behind their product.

Daniel April 4, 2018 at 1:48 am

Daniel,
The software doesn’t work on password protected file but it repaired my database successfully.

Daniel Pineault Post authorApril 4, 2018 at 1:15 pm

Well, you’ve be luckier than me! 🙂
All my tests when awry and were unsuccessful.

I am glad to hear it worked for you and I’m sure others will find such information useful. Thank you for sharing.

Keith Mast February 15, 2019 at 10:37 pm

The posts above are from quite a while ago, but I’ll add my two cents. I found the software on the internet and asked my client if they would buy it. Once the software was in hand, I ran the utility and it said “repairing” and then “the database has been repaired.” At the time of the corruption, my customer was going ‘nuts’ and so was I. I was trying a couple different things to get the db working, but in the end, the database corruption seemed to be fixed. I’m not 100% sure if Stellar fixed it or another thing I was trying. So then I was curious and ran it again just to see what would happen. Same message “repairing” and then “the db has been repaired.” I called them and asked them ‘how do I know if the database was corrupt or not before the software ran?” They had no answer. I thought that was odd but really didn’t care because my client was back up and running. Since then, I tried it on another client’s database but to no avail. The magic was gone.

P steve calabria June 4, 2021 at 3:50 am

I do not expect any repair tool to fix every possible problem and I understand that a product may not be able to fix a password protected database (hopefully they state such clearly in the description), however, I do expect companies who offer money-back guarantees to honor such and to provide reasonable technical support.

Thanks to this review and the feedback comments, I will hope that the software manufacturer understands that there are consequences that go with not honoring a moneyback warranty.

I see nothing wrong with selling a product based upon the premous… give it a try, and if it doesn’t work you can have a refund… but that’s obviously not what this company is doing.

Thank you for the review.

Natalie Rynda November 24, 2021 at 1:45 pm

Same here. Within 24 hours I wanted a refund. Demo version shows all forms and modules but the recovered version only has tables and queries. I was able to get that for free myself before I bought the program.
No refund, they wasted 4 days of my time asking stupid questions just to tell me that I can’t get a refund.

crystal September 23, 2023 at 7:35 pm

thanks, Daniel. An Access user recently thought her database was corrupted because a feature she uses to output PDF calendars (that I wrote for her) wasn’t working. It turned out to be a bad data value containing a “/” that wasn’t removed before creating a filename. She didn’t realize that though, at the time.

She was deperate to get it fixed right away (she’s in Australia so it was the middle of the night for me) and read an article that Stellar could correct the error she was getting (2501) so she got suckered into trying their service. I can’t say anything good about it.

The ‘repaired’ database had no standard modules or custom database properties, and who knows what else was missing. Of course it didn’t compile either (which it did before they got it). It was broken! Still working on getting a refund without success. Based on what I’ve heard from other unhappy customers, they don’t seem to be reputable.

For reliable database repair, if the problem really is corruption, I recommend Wayne Phillips at
https://www.everythingaccess.com/accessdatabaserepair_info.asp

Daniel Pineault Post authorSeptember 23, 2023 at 8:48 pm

I used Wayne’s services a while back for a client and would also recommend him!

Richard Menon February 13, 2015 at 12:48 am

I used the product and it worked perfectly. I think all repair product have some or the other limitation.
This product was quite successful in my case.

Richard Menon
1. Daniel Pineault Post authorFebruary 14, 2015 at 11:43 am
  
  I won’t argue that most software has limitations, but having a tool to fix corrupt Access databases which can not handle password protected databases is more than a limitation. EVERY single database I deploy is password protected! It is the very bare minimum that should be implemented to minimally secure the data contained within.
  
  Anyways, I am glad it worked successfully for you, but this remains a rather huge limitation for the vast majority of potential users and definitely something to be aware of before looking any further at the product!
Landon May 22, 2015 at 9:46 am

I used this software and works fine, but it has limitation, for example, it can not recover other file as memo, ole, macros, modules, relations and the referential integrity. Is good for a minor corruption, but I think all program have some limitations.
Dont November 29, 2017 at 8:59 am

I needed to repair an access database. I found this software on the internet and downloaded the demo. It just showed that it found errors and implied it would repair the file. The demo version does not do any repairs. I contacted them and they said the full version would repair the file. When my client gave me the go ahead to repair the file, I purchased this software. It did not repair the file, it in fact made it worse. The file functioned before the repair, but had some minor issues. After repair with this software it does not work at all. I contacted there tech support and they just ask a lot of questions. I answered them and then they moved it to advanced tech support. They did the same, just asks questions, but nothing to try and do to resolve, The software has no options, just select file and press repair. There refund policy they claim is that if they cannot repair the file they will refund. Next they asked for me to send them the file so they will repair it. My client will not allow me to send them the file as it has proprietary information. I keep asking them to provide me with any other steps to have their software repair the file and they will not offer any, they just keep telling me to send them the file and no refund. I asked for a refund less than 24 hours after purchasing this software. I feel there practices are very deceitful and improper. Eventually I called Microsoft and they repaired the file.Desired Settlement: I am not really concerned about a refund. My main objective is to make other consumers aware that this company is a scam and does not provide a product that works and will not properly stand behind their product.
Daniel April 4, 2018 at 1:48 am

Daniel,
The software doesn’t work on password protected file but it repaired my database successfully.
1. Daniel Pineault Post authorApril 4, 2018 at 1:15 pm
  
  Well, you’ve be luckier than me! 🙂
  All my tests when awry and were unsuccessful.
  
  I am glad to hear it worked for you and I’m sure others will find such information useful. Thank you for sharing.
Keith Mast February 15, 2019 at 10:37 pm

The posts above are from quite a while ago, but I’ll add my two cents. I found the software on the internet and asked my client if they would buy it. Once the software was in hand, I ran the utility and it said “repairing” and then “the database has been repaired.” At the time of the corruption, my customer was going ‘nuts’ and so was I. I was trying a couple different things to get the db working, but in the end, the database corruption seemed to be fixed. I’m not 100% sure if Stellar fixed it or another thing I was trying. So then I was curious and ran it again just to see what would happen. Same message “repairing” and then “the db has been repaired.” I called them and asked them ‘how do I know if the database was corrupt or not before the software ran?” They had no answer. I thought that was odd but really didn’t care because my client was back up and running. Since then, I tried it on another client’s database but to no avail. The magic was gone.
P steve calabria June 4, 2021 at 3:50 am

I do not expect any repair tool to fix every possible problem and I understand that a product may not be able to fix a password protected database (hopefully they state such clearly in the description), however, I do expect companies who offer money-back guarantees to honor such and to provide reasonable technical support.

Thanks to this review and the feedback comments, I will hope that the software manufacturer understands that there are consequences that go with not honoring a moneyback warranty.

I see nothing wrong with selling a product based upon the premous… give it a try, and if it doesn’t work you can have a refund… but that’s obviously not what this company is doing.

Thank you for the review.
Natalie Rynda November 24, 2021 at 1:45 pm

Same here. Within 24 hours I wanted a refund. Demo version shows all forms and modules but the recovered version only has tables and queries. I was able to get that for free myself before I bought the program.
No refund, they wasted 4 days of my time asking stupid questions just to tell me that I can’t get a refund.
crystal September 23, 2023 at 7:35 pm

thanks, Daniel. An Access user recently thought her database was corrupted because a feature she uses to output PDF calendars (that I wrote for her) wasn’t working. It turned out to be a bad data value containing a “/” that wasn’t removed before creating a filename. She didn’t realize that though, at the time.

She was deperate to get it fixed right away (she’s in Australia so it was the middle of the night for me) and read an article that Stellar could correct the error she was getting (2501) so she got suckered into trying their service. I can’t say anything good about it.

The ‘repaired’ database had no standard modules or custom database properties, and who knows what else was missing. Of course it didn’t compile either (which it did before they got it). It was broken! Still working on getting a refund without success. Based on what I’ve heard from other unhappy customers, they don’t seem to be reputable.

For reliable database repair, if the problem really is corruption, I recommend Wayne Phillips at
https://www.everythingaccess.com/accessdatabaserepair_info.asp
1. Daniel Pineault Post authorSeptember 23, 2023 at 8:48 pm
  
  I used Wayne’s services a while back for a client and would also recommend him!