Microsoft JET, Access, frustration, and tears...

[blueerica]

Okay, so I haven't cried yet. I barely understand the problem, just that there is one. I haven't used Access in years, so this is hardly intuitive, so please bear with me on this question, and if you have any of your own, I will do my best to answer them.

Some time ago, my company put together service area maps that included sales zones, density, etc. I've begun working with the mapping (as some of the duties will be transferred to me), and a problem that had been noticed earlier came up once again.

Back in the day, which was a Wednesday, by the way, my co-worker built the maps and related files on his computer. Let's just say there are many maps. It eventually came time to get a different computer, a laptop with which he could take his work on the road. The files were 'copied' over by someone in IT, and so on and so forth. He hadn't worked on mapping immediately after getting the new computer, but when he needed to revisit his maps for updates... well... he got this error:

Microsoft Jet database engine could not find the object 'XYZ.dbf'. Make sure the object exists and that you spell its name and the path correctly.

He recognized this problem early on, but due to having items of higher importance on his plate, it's only being talked about now. We have (easily) come to the conclusion that something happens when it gets copied. Integrity is lost in the relationships, files missing, incorrect paths - are things we've considered.

Since the time it got transferred to his laptop, all of the mapping data, files, etc, got transferred to an external hard drive, in the hopes that we'd be able to move it back and forth as needed.

So, here are a few questions, or if someone has a solution or has experienced this, please feel free to ignore the questions and help me find a solution...

Are .ddf files normally found alongside normal access/jet files? How are they correct or incorrect?

".dat files need to be in correct directories" - what does that mean, and... uh... how might this apply?

Is there a solution to make copied files work/accessible?

We're considering deleting everything and starting essentially from scratch. If we decide to pursue this, is there a way to prevent this copied files issue from being a problem. We also figure that putting it on our marketing server could create issues, since it may come down to being the 'copy' from the backup file.

HALP.

Like I said, I barely understand what's wrong, but if anyone can understand what I really mean, it would be a great help.