>Unfortunately the BAK and TBK files are only as good as the last structure change (or something like that); not each time it's opened.
>
>Any other ideas? My friend will have to retype for hours from old reports if there's not...
I think a MODIFY STRUCTURE will maintain deleted records.
If you pack twice, deleted records are lost.
You probably mean to ask whether the deleted records are stored somewhere. They are not. The idea of PACK is precisely to recover lost space used by deleted records (and make some operations faster).
Look into your BAK and TBK files. If you don't find the information there, you basically have two options:
1) Recover information from a recent backup.
2) If you don't have one, cry out loud, curse, holler, and promise to pay homage to God Backup in the future.
Sorry, but I don't think there are any further options.
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)