The database tables are the most important element in your blog or website. If you’re using WordPress or any other platform, you need to have a clean database to make the connection between the website, and the stored information work properly. But, sometimes, the database tables can be corrupted, and that is one of the common problems that cause an error in establishing a database connection problem.
In the last post, we talked about how to solve the database connection problems, without taking the risk with any file. Today, I’ll show you a clear tutorial on how to repair a corrupted database table, directly from the PhpMyAdmin dashboard.
Create a backup first:
Please make sure to make a backup for your blog to avoid any mistakes. Download the MySQL database, even if it’s corrupted, before doing anything if you can’t download your tables.
Repairing corrupted WordPress database tables
These are the steps, but please read the details below:
- Create a database backup (that’s good for you)
- Login to PHPMyAdmin (your web host should send you the logging details in the first email)
- In PHPMyAdmin, find the name of the WordPress database in the left area of the page
- Click on that database name, and you’ll see all its tables
- Because you don’t know which database table is corrupted, you need to scroll down and select all the tables. Just click on Check All
- Just after checking all the database tables, you’ll get different options. Now, choose the one called the Repair table. Confirm in the next step, and that’s it.
Keep in mind that repairing a WordPress MySQL database that’s corrupted, broken, or not working can make things worse if you don’t know what you’re doing. After the backup, ask your web hosting provider if they can help. The majority of web hosts offer customer support, and spending a few minutes on this easy task should not be a problem for them.
If your web host offers support by live chat, tell them that you don’t want to mess with database files, and they’ll help and fix things.
On the other side, if you prefer the Do It Yourself way, then, here is how to fix the blog database if it’s not working or broken for any reason:
Start the repair process directly by logging into your cPanel account, then, locate the PHPMyAdmin icon and click on it as in the next screenshot:
Now, you get the phpMyAdmin dashboard, at the left sidebar. You will see your databases; just find the one that you want to repair. If you have a single blog or website, you will find a single database there. Just click on it, and the linked tables will be shown on the right page.
Repair the Corrupted Tables
Your database tables are displayed now, your next step is to repair them at once. All you have to do is to scroll down and click the “check all” tables, and select “Repair Table“, as below:
As you can see, it’s not rocket science to repair the WordPress database tables or any other database. Make sure that you select the right database, and do not be confused with the others. If you have multiple websites hosted on the same account, it’s recommended to create a memorable database prefix or name for each one. Thus, you can easily find your tables and avoid any mistakes.
What makes the WordPress database corrupted?
You can’t know exactly the problem that caused the corrupted database tables. Sometimes, a wrong server configuration, or even, low-quality hosting can be the cause.
In other cases, if you have thousands of options and information stored in that database without optimization, the database itself can be broken.
If your WordPress site is not working because of the database, then, these can be the reasons:
- One or more tables that are missing a parameter
- Low-quality WordPress theme you installed
- WordPress plugins conflict; if multiple plugins do the same things, then that’s a big problem
- Your site is facing security problems
- Your web hosting provider changed the configurations of the server
- You accidentally messed with the database without noticing that
- A newly updated WordPress version causes incompatibilities
That’s why you should clean and optimize your database. If you have tables for plugins that you no longer use. Why let them add extra space, and make your blog load slowly? There are many plugins that you can use. For example, WP Optimize can help you clean your database and save some disk space.
Remember that you have to create a regular database backup, to be able to restore your site if something happens later. Your database is the only thing that can make your log life again. It contains your posts and links, and all expect your uploaded images.
So, you should also back your uploads folder every day and keep it in a safe place; the database still has your image links but can’t find them.
A corrupted database table may not directly be a problem if you don’t notice it. A simple plugin update can break one of the WordPress database tables. So, when you access the site, everything is working. But once you test something, you’ll notice a slow page loading time and lots of performance issues.
That can be caused by one or more corrupted tables in your website database. I saw many plugins that are poorly coded, causing these problems, so, I’d recommend installing plugins from trusted sources and also make sure that the version for WordPress and the plugin you installed are compatible.
