Stellar Phoenix Database Repair for MySQL

1.0 stars

"Promises a fix to corrupt database and fails to deliver"

February 17, 2012  |   By lillockey

Version: Stellar Phoenix Database Repair for MySQL 3.0

Pros

+Great looking interface
+Simple installation and transition from the demo version to purchased version.
+Functionality of the demo application is good. It can read non-working INNODB files with ease. It can even display their contents.

Cons

-Terrible, outsourced technical support. We're talking "barely trained guy in India reading from a list" bad.
-MUST have MySQL installed on the local computer to work (that still didn't work for me but it is what the tech support staff said).
-It didn't work for us at all.

Summary

This software was purchased by the company I work for because an INNODB driven database (served by MySQL) was corrupted by some unknown thing. This software (Stellar Phoenix Database Recovery for MySQL) promised to recover the database which would get all of my schemata and tables back up to running status. When I downloaded the demo and it could certainly read all of my INNODB tables and their contents. That's great! This should work, right? Naturally, the demo didn't do any recovery but that was expected.

When we bought the license for $400, I expected the good times to continue. By fixing all of the corruption, this program would have been great. It's user interface is very simple, straight-forward, and easy to understand. However, that is where the greatness ends. When I went to recover the database, it said "MySQL either not installed or version not supported". What? Does this mean it has to be running or just present on the machine? If it's supposed to be running, why would I need recovery services? If the INNODB tables are corrupt, MySQL can't start. It throws errors and shuts down. My solution to this was to make a new instance of MySQL that points to a new directory. That didn't fix it. I tried reinstalling MySQL on the machine with all default settings. That still didn't fix it.

This is where my opinion of this company drops. We called tech support and were immediately transferred to some guy reading off of a list in India. He wasn't helpful but we weren't expecting miracles with a guy trained not to fix the problems but to be a filter. OK. I understand all that. It's when the emails start rolling in that pure incompetence. The first one is fine enough. It asks for details and screen shots. I make some screen shots showing that MySQL is installed and running and the software giving the error and reply to that email. Five hours later, I got an email requesting screen shots of the error. I resent the same screen shots and waited. Twenty-four hours go by and I finally get a response. They suggest installing MySQL on the local machine. First, the screen shots I sent show that it was already so but I humor them and send a screen shot of MySQL Workbench whose status shows it connecting to "localhost", the installation path of MySQL Server, and their software with the error. Keep in mind, the original screens show the same thing.

This is the slowest response I've seen in a long time from any company. The solution I had for this problem WAS to use this software to fix my corrupt database in short order. What happened instead is wait for 24 hours and then begin rebuilding the database from the ground up and then repopulating the databases myself. Here I am now 72 hours later with my databases running having wasted many hours on both days fixing something that should have been fixed by this useless $400 software.

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