How to Handle Clustered Index Corruption in SQL Database?
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Written By Jyoti Prakash
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Approved By Kuljeet Singh
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Updated on 21 Sep, 2023 -
Min Reading 3 Min - Share
Summary: This blog advises on how to check if a clustered index is corrupted in SQL Server. It also discusses what causes SQL Server clustered index corruption issue and methods to fix the issue. You can restore the database from backup or use SQL database repair software to resolve the clustered index corruption in MS SQL Server.
Microsoft SQL Server database is used by several medium and large-sized businesses to store and access their large amount of data safely and securely. Although highly reliable, the database primary MDF file and the secondary NDF file are not immune to becoming corrupt.
There can be several reasons behind corruption of SQL database files. One of the reasons is corruption in clustered index of the database that makes the data stored in MDF and NDF files inaccessible.
How to Check If Index is Corrupted in SQL Server?
If there is corruption in the clustered index in SQL Server, you may encounter an error message that reads as:
Server: Msg 1902, Level 16, State 3, Line 1
Cannot create more than one clustered index on table ‘Table Name’. Drop the existing clustered index ‘Clustered Index Name’ before creating another.
If you haven’t received SQL Server error 1902, you can check if the clustered index is corrupt by following these ways:
• Try fetching SQL Server data from some rows. If there is corruption in an index, then SQL Server will show deleted or different values in the rows of the database.
• Check SQL Server log report to see if the records are edited more than once or not. If you find that the records are edited more than once, it means that the index is corrupted.
What Causes Clustered Index Corruption in MS SQL?
A table can have only one clustered index, as the clustered index dictates the physical storage order of the data in the table. The SQL Server error 1902 indicates that there is more than one clustered index on the table.
How to Fix Clustered Index Corruption in MS SQL?
As a table in SQL Server database can have only one clustered index, it is essential to create any additional indexes on the table as non-clustered. If you wish to alter how the SQL database table is clustered, you need to first drop the existing clustered index before creating a new one.
There are two methods to handle corruption in the clustered index of SQL Server. You can either do it by:
• Restore from Backup
• SQL database repair software
Before We Proceed
Before trying to fix the corrupted clustered index corruption in SQL database, you must try to find the exact reasons behind corruption. You can do so by using the built-in DBCC CHECKDB command. Running this command helps checks the logical and physical integrity of the database and will return you the Database ID, Object ID, and Index ID of the corrupted index.
DBCC CHECKDB (CorruptDBName) With No_InfoMsgs, All_ErrorMsgs,
TableResults;
GO
After checking the index ID, you can easily choose the appropriate action to resolve the issue.
Method 1 – Restore from Backup
If a backup of the SQL server database is present, it can always be restored to get the working copy of the server’s database. However, this page-level restoration method is useful only when there are fewer alterations in the database, and only a single page of the index has been damaged.
If there is corruption in multiple pages of the clustered database, you would have to perform the database level restoration.
Read this: How to Restore Database in SQL Server from .Bak File Step By Step
Method 2 – Use SQL Database Repair Software
The other way to handle SQL database clustered index corruption is using a SQL database repair software that is capable of repairing corrupt or damaged Microsoft SQL Server database (MDF) files safely, securely, and successfully. The use of software makes the process fast and eliminates manual intervention. Also, it is the best alternative when you do not have a backup.
The Way Forward – Stellar Repair for MS SQL
Stellar Repair for MS SQL software easily fixes the clustered index issue. It is an easy-to-use application and provides several benefits along with repairing the damaged SQL Server MDF files. Its additional capabilities are as follows:
- Repairs damaged MDF and NDF files
- Retrieves tables, indexes, triggers, rules, keys, and defaults
- Perform recovery of deleted records
- Searches and recovers specific database objects
- Saves repaired files in MDF (New MS SQL database Or Live MS SQL database), XLS, CSV, and HTML file formats
- Supports MS SQL Server 2019, 2017, 2016, and lower versions
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Problem solver and Data recovery specialist. Usually share informative articles on data recovery, database corruption and ways to recover lost data.
7 comments
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When I try to access SQL Server 2014 it shows an error message:
‘Cannot create more than one clustered index on table ‘TableName’. Drop the existing clustered index ‘Clustered Index Name’ before creating another.’
To fix this error, I have used DBCC command. But can’t fix the error. After that, I have restored a backup file. After restoration, last week changes are not present because I have not taken back up from last 1 week.
Is it possible to recover all SQL database components?
Hi Mia,
Try an alternative like Stellar Repair for MS SQL. In a demo version, you can see a preview of recoverable SQL items.
Fixed my corrupt clustered index issue, Stellar SQL database is a reliable piece!
Nice article!
Thank you so much, Lin.
My firm’s salary database and database backup had gone corrupt and was showing database inconsistency errors.Even after repeated tries I was not able to recover from it.
After your recommendation, I used Stellar SQL Database Repair and now my database is back to functional state. Thanks for the remedy Jyoti :D.
Dear Robert,
It’s good to know that, our SQL database repair software fixed the issue.
Good Luck!