The Data Warning Dialog becomes visible only in a very extreme circumstance. If CMD is unable to open one of its main data files, this warning dialog will appear. If this dialog appears, it means there are major problems with your CMD data.

Please read the following information very carefully before you take any further action with CMD and your data. It is important not to make the problem worse!

What is the Problem?

Generally when this dialog appears, one of the main data components of your database is damaged or missing. This can happen as a result of problem with your hard disk or other problem with your computer, or it can even happen if a user copies portions of a CMD database from one folder to another thinking they are simply transferring a data file.

CMD uses a "data dictionary", a master data file (or data table) in the database that keeps careful tabs on all the data files in the CMD database system (there are over 40 separate data tables used in CMD's database). The data dictionary is what makes possible the tight user security and provides the ability to allow different users to have different access privileges.

When the data dictionary senses that part of its database system is damaged, lost, or has been overwritten by files that it "knows" do not belong to this database, errors will occur that will keep CMD from being able to open your CMD database. Even files by the same name cannot simply be copied to a CMD data folder! The data dictionary has electronic "markings" in each table of the database to identify it, and if a table is present but not part of the database, it will not be opened and you will end up at this dialog.

When are these problems likely to happen?

Our experience has been that generally these problems happen when you are attempting to import data from a prior version or when you are trying to restore data backed up on another computer using the same version of CMD. The problem when restoring from another computer is usually caused by an incomplete data file set in the backup file, perhaps caused because the backup medium ran out of space to hold the entire backup.

What Can Be Done At This Point?

You can recover, but only if you have a good backup, or you have another computer using CMD successfully, you will be able to recover from this problem!

The Data Warning Dialog has two options: you can create a backup on the spot of the data with the problem so that it can be e-mailed to us, or you can clear out the data entirely with a blank slate so that you can attempt another restore - either from the data file you were trying to restore or from another computer on which CMD is running successfully.

If you wish to send us your data, please attach it to an e-mail along with a description of anything that you think might have happened to cause it, or what you were doing before the problem arose.

If this happened when attempting to restore data from another computer, before you send us the data, go back to the computer from which the backup was originally drawn, and make a backup on that computer onto the hard disk of that computer rather than onto backup media. Only after the backup has been made directly onto your hard drive should you attempt to copy it to a flash drive, CD-RW, or floppy disk. This step will assure that you are getting a complete backup file with all of CMD's files included. Try the restore one more time with this newly created data file. If it still doesn't work, then send us a copy of the newly created backup data file along with the one you made from within the computer with the CMD problem.

You won't be able to do anything more with CMD until this is resolved, so get word to us right away about your difficulty. Just remember, if you have a good backup and/or another computer using CMD successfully, you WILL recover from this! Just let us help you!