Conversion Error : pre7actdb.adb file is being used by another process

[tjfitzgerald]

During the process of converting from ACT! 6.0 to ACT! Premium 2013 I obtained the following error:

Converstion has been halted with the following message:

The process cannot access the file 'pre7actdb.adb' because it is being used by another process.

This is a small database with under 400 records (I have successfully converted some sections over 3 times this size).  I read in the knowledgebase that it may be timing out so I increased all of the times by a factor of 1000 and ran the conversion again but it never finished (let it proceed overnight when a 1386 record conversion was done in several minutes).  I've cleaned/compacted/reindexed the database prior to attempting the conversion process and still no luck.  I've eliminated all non-standard data fields (down to the bare minimum), deleted all empty groups,  trimmed down the history and notes and I'm still getting the same error/hang.

If anyone has any suggestions short of re-entering the data, I'd sure love to hear from you.

[Roy_Laudenslager · Accepted solution]

The ADB is the activities table and it likely has some internal corruptiion. The database repair in the ACTDIAG may be able to clear the problem.

[Roy_Laudenslager · Accepted solution]

The ADB is the activities table and it likely has some internal corruptiion. The database repair in the ACTDIAG may be able to clear the problem.

[tjfitzgerald]

Thanks for the info Roy, I went back into the actdiag and did a total reset plus cleared all indexes and it converted. Before this I was just clearing the indexes and compacting the database. I also reduced the activities which were "extremely high" (over 1.1M for a database with under 400 records, even if you consider it's a database that's been in use since 1995).

[squad16]

I have the same issue with two ACT 6 databases.  Both went through ACTDIAG repair with all green check marks.  One database was converted from ACT 4 to 6 and the other from ACT 5 to 6.  When I moved the databases to an XP computer and a Windows 7 computer they both got converted to ACT 2013 premium.  I get the pre7actdb.adb error only with my Windows 8 computer.  One of the databases only had two activities.

[dixon7]

My understanding is that this is due to a 64-bit machine issue.  I am restoring on an XP, 32-bit with the database local to this machine.  I still cannot get it to convert, even after running actdiag several times and removing the indexes.  Any ideas?  Thanks, Brenda

[Sjors]

Hi,

Tried to convert a v6 to v16, same error from pre7actdb.adb file.

Over and over again.

My solution: unticked the share database option and this time all went smoothly.

Shared the database after the conversion, of course.

Thanx to all the questions, answers and solutions it only took me an hour to come with this solution.

Hope that helps others too.

regards,

Sjors

[Sjors]

Had to do do the conversion again, seems I have been lucky to have a more or less succesfull one because the attempts after that all failed. Tried to do it on a 32-bits pc but same error with pre7actdb.adb.

Tried to fix the original dbf with actdiag but never succeeded. Must have done that a dozen times.

Since it was a rather large dbf with many attachments and notes it was not surprising actdiag found a corruption with a quick check. So I guess it's that corruption in the tables that made it impossible to convert. Gave up and client is now satisfied with the first conversion although about 60% of activities etc. don't show up anymore. They'll restore that by hand if needed.

My advice: when getting this error always check for corruption first.

cheers,

Sjors

[richgehl]

Converting from ACT! 6.0 to ACT! Premium v17 - cannot access the file 'pre7actdb.adb' because it is being used by another process. This is after cleaning up the ACT 6 database with ACTDIAG and RedFlags. Tried going to ACT Prem 2013, same error. Tried ACT Prem 2011 and got new error – Opportunity_Field_1 does not support greater than 64 characters. Turns out ACT 6 opportunity TYPE maps to Opportunity_Field_1. Went back to ACT 6 database and sure enough several entries in opportunity TYPE were longer than 64 characters. Modified them to a max of 64 characters. Tried the conversion again with ACT Premium v17 and it completed without problem.

Hope this saves someone the HOURS I spent figuring this out.

[cicorp]

I do conversions to ACT! nearly every day and no one has posted the real reason, and 100% solution yet.