For data recovery and troubleshooting

LevelDataStudio » Use cases by role » Data recovery and troubleshooting

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The situation

A store will not open. The comparer does not match, the manifest is missing, or the file is locked by another process. Before deciding the data is gone, it is worth reading whatever can still be read - and getting it out before anything else touches the folder.

What you do

1. Open the folder. The comparer is detected automatically - bytewise first, then the Chromium idb_cmp1 comparer - so a store that a default tool reads as garbage may open correctly.
2. If the store cannot be opened in place, a copy is made and the copy is opened instead. That also gets past a LOCK held by another process, without touching the original files.
3. Export whatever can be read, in bulk, so the recoverable part is out of the binary before you do anything riskier.

Reads are done in binary key order straight from the store, so a partially damaged database still yields the keys that remain intact. The HEX view helps identify values whose format is unknown.

What it will not do

• It does not repair a corrupt store or rebuild a missing manifest. It reads what is still readable.
• It cannot read deleted data. Only the entries still present in the store are shown.
• There is no automatic backup. Export before editing if the store matters.

Related

Reading a store: look inside a LevelDB database. Getting data out: export keys for analysis, export keys to files. Other roles: use cases by role.