A PCLaw database almost never fails out of nowhere. In most recoveries we carry out, staff had noticed something odd days or weeks earlier and worked around it. Caught at that stage, most problems are a short repair. Left alone, they become a full recovery. These are the five signs to act on.
1. Verify Data Integrity keeps reporting errors
One error after a power cut is not unusual. The warning sign is an error that comes back after it has been fixed, or a list that grows each time you run the check.
What it means: something is still damaging the data, or the original damage was never fully repaired.
What to do: save the report each time so the pattern can be seen, and stop running repairs over and over. Repeated repairs on damaged data can make things worse. Our guide to Verify Data Integrity explains how to read the results.
2. Reports that should agree no longer do
The client trust listing does not equal the trust bank balance. The receivables listing does not match the accounts receivable account in the general ledger. A client ledger shows a balance that its own transactions do not add up to.
What it means: a transaction was only partly written, usually because a workstation crashed or lost its connection in the middle of posting.
What to do: find the date the figures last agreed, by running the reports as of earlier month-ends. Do not post a journal entry to force them back into agreement. That hides the damaged transaction without repairing it, and the difference will resurface.
3. Errors or freezes at the same place every time
PCLaw closes when you open one particular matter, or a report always stops at the same page, or one day's entries cannot be displayed.
What it means: a specific record or index is damaged. PCLaw works until it reaches that spot.
What to do: note exactly what was being done and which matter, date or report is involved. That detail often cuts hours from the repair. Ask staff to avoid the affected area until it is fixed.
4. Slowness that keeps getting worse
Not the ordinary slowness of a busy afternoon, but a steady decline over weeks: reports that took seconds now take minutes, and posting pauses on every line.
What it means: often an index in poor condition or a database that has outgrown its setup. Sometimes a failing disk.
What to do: check the server's disk health and free space first. Then see why PCLaw is running slow for the full list of causes.
5. Backups that fail, shrink or take far longer
The backup job reports errors, the backup file is suddenly much smaller than last week's, or a backup that took ten minutes now takes an hour.
What it means: a backup that cannot read part of the data is frequently the first thing to notice damage or a failing drive.
What to do: treat it as urgent. Without a good backup, every other problem on this list becomes more dangerous. Check the backup log for skipped or unreadable files.
What to do right now
- Ask everyone to exit PCLaw if errors are appearing during normal work.
- Make a copy of the data as it is now, to a new location. Do not overwrite your last good backup with a backup of damaged data.
- Write down what happened: the messages, the time, and what was being done.
- Check when your last known-good backup was made, and where it is.
What not to do
- Do not restore an old backup over the live data without copying the current state first. You may need today's data to recover recent work.
- Do not reinstall or upgrade PCLaw to see if that fixes it.
- Do not keep working around the problem for another month.
When to call
If you recognise two or more of these signs, or any one of them together with a failing backup, get the database looked at now. An assessment takes far less time than a recovery.
Our PCLaw data recovery team is available around the clock, works on a copy of your data and never the original, and does not charge if nothing can be recovered. Contact us and a PCLaw specialist will respond within 15 minutes.