Repairing tables
In most cases, only the index will be corrupted (the index is a separate,
smaller, file with records that point to the main data file) - actual data
corruption is extremely rare. Fixing most forms of corruption is relatively
easy. As with checking, there are three ways to repair tables. These all only
work with MyISAM tables - to repair corruption of the other table types, you
will need to restore from backup:
-
The REPAIR TABLE SQL statement (obviously the server must
be running for this)
-
The mysqlcheck command-line utility (the server can be
running)
-
The myisamchk command-line utility (the server must be
down, or the tables inactive)
Repairing a table requires twice as much disk space as the
original table (a copy of the data is made), so make sure you are not going to
run out of disk space before you start.
Repairing a table with REPAIR TABLE
The syntax is, as would be expected, REPAIR TABLE tablename[,tablename1...]
[options]. This method only works with MyISAM tables. The following options
are available.
|
QUICK
|
The quickest, as the data file is not modified.
|
|
EXTENDED
|
Will attempt to recover every possible data row file,
which can result in garbage rows. Use as a last resort.
|
|
USE_FRM
|
To be used if the .MYI file is missing or has a corrupted
header. Uses the .frm file definitions to rebuild the indexes.
|
In most cases, a simple REPAIR without any options should work fine. An
unusual case is when the .MYI is missing. Here is what would happen:
mysql> REPAIR TABLE fixtures;
+-------------------------+--------+----------+---------------------------------------------+
| Table | Op | Msg_type | Msg_text |
+-------------------------+--------+----------+---------------------------------------------+
| sports_results.fixtures | repair | error | Can't find file: 'fixtures.MYI' (errno: 2) |
+-------------------------+--------+----------+---------------------------------------------+
The repair has failed because the index file is missing or
has a corrupted header. To use the definition file to repair, use the USE_FRM
option, as follows:
mysql> REPAIR TABLE fixtures USE_FRM;
+-------------------------+--------+----------+------------------------------------+
| Table | Op | Msg_type | Msg_text |
+-------------------------+--------+----------+------------------------------------+
| sports_results.fixtures | repair | warning | Number of rows changed from 0 to 2 |
| sports_results.fixtures | repair | status | OK |
+-------------------------+--------+----------+------------------------------------+
Everything has gone smoothly this time, as indicated by the OK
Msg_text.
Repairing tables with mysqlcheck
The mysqlcheck command-line utility can be used while the server is running,
and, like all the methods of repair, only works with MyISAM tables. The syntax
is:
%mysqlcheck -r sports_results fixtures -uuser -ppass
sports_results.fixtures OK
You can also repair multiple tables in a database, by
listing them after the database name, or all tables in a database by just
passing the database name, for example:
%mysqlcheck -r sports_results fixtures events -uuser -ppass
sports_results.fixtures OK
sports_results.events OK
%mysqlcheck -r sports_results -uuser -ppass
sports_results.fixtures OK
sports_results.events OK
...
Repairing tables with myisamchk
The server must be down, or the tables inactive (which is ensured if the --skip-external-locking
option is not in use). The syntax is myisamchk [options[ [tablenames].
Remember again that you must be in, or specify, the path to the relevant .MYI
files. The following options are available:
|
--backup, -B
|
Makes a .BAK backup of the table before repairing it
|
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--correct-checksum
|
Corrects the checksum
|
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--data-file-length=#, -D #
|
Specifies the maximum length of the data file, when
recreating
|
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--extend-check, -e
|
Attempts to recover every possible row from the data file.
This option should not be used except as a last resort, as it may produce
garbage rows.
|
|
--force, -f
|
Overwrites old temporary .TMD files instead of aborting if
it encounters a pre-existing one.
|
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keys-used=#, -k #
|
Can make the process faster by specifying which keys to
use. Each binary bit stands for one key starting at 0 for the first key.
|
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--recover, -r
|
The most commonly used option, which repairs most
corruption. If you have enough memory, increase the sort_buffer_size to make
the recover go more quickly. Will not recover from the rare form of
corruption where a unique key is not unique.
|
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--safe-recover, -o
|
More thorough, yet slower repair option than -r, usually
only used only if -r fails. Reads through all rows and rebuilds the indexes
based on the rows. This also uses slightly less disk space than a -r repair
since a sort buffer is not created. You should increase the key_buffer_size
value to improve repair speed if there is available memory.
|
|
--sort-recover, -n
|
MySQL uses sorting to resolve the indexes, even if the
resulting temporary files are very large.
|
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--character-sets-dir=...
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The directory containing the character sets
|
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--set-character-set=name
|
Specifies a new character set for the index
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--tmpdir=path, -t
|
Passes a new path for storing temporary files if you dont
want to use the contents of the TMPDIR environment variable
|
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--quick, -q
|
The fastest repair, since the data file is not modified. A
second -q will modify the data file if there are duplicate keys. Also
uses much less disk space since the data file is not modified.
|
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--unpack, -u
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Unpacks a file that has been packed with the myisampack
utility.
|
An example of its usage:
% myisamchk -r fixtures
- recovering (with keycache) MyISAM-table 'fixtures.MYI'
Data records: 0
I hope that you will never have to do any repairing, but I
am sure at least some of you reading this article (at least those who got this
far) are here precisely because you've got some corruption. I hope that your
repairs will be as painless as all mine have been. Good luck!
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