Although the conversion process is a tedious task, the MySQL has considerable benefits over the MS Access, most notably: higher performance; multiple user access; cross platforming; and a better security system. To setup a complex or multi-user database system, migration of data from MSAccess to MySQL is therefore highly recommended. However, for a single user system where there is not so large data file involved, the MySQL offers not much difference over the MS Access database.
To migrate data from MS Access to MySQL do the following:
- Extract the MS Access table and constraint definitions and convert them into MySQL format, then load resulting SQL statements to MySQL database;
- Export MS Access data to intermediate storage, make necessary conversions and load it into the target database;
- Export MS Access queries into SQL statements; convert to the MySQL format and then load into the target database.
There are different approaches to automate some or all steps of MS Access to MySQL migration listed above. For example, MS Access can be used to export data from the source database via Connector/ODBC driver developed by MySQL vendor.To export MS Access data using this method:
- Highlight the table for migration and select “Export” item from “File” menu
- In the dialog box requesting type of the exported object select “ODBC Database”
- After a few more clicks all data from the specified MS Access table will be exported to MySQL
This method does not convert queries and certain constraints, but is sufficient for the migration of a small-scale database with not too many queries. Otherwise, there will still be need for a manual operation upon the completion of the automated part.
Certain dedicated software can also be used for the MS Access to MySQL database conversion, some of which allows for the automation of the whole process. One of these is MS Access to MySQL migration tool produced by the Intelligent Converters. This software vendor is focused on offering products and services for data migration and synchronization for all the popular database management systems including PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL, MS Access, SQL Server, SQLite, FoxPro and IBM DB2.
MS Access to MySQL converter is a user-friendly tool that is capable of taking complex and very large MS Access database migrations with a performance of up to 2000 records per second on the modern platform. Its results are also of high accuracy because the program handles all migration processes in an intelligent manner.
Key features of MS Access to MySQL converter:
- working with all versions of MS Access, on-premises and cloud MySQL, MariaDB and Percona forks
- handling all regional charsets (multi-byte, Unicode, etc)
- converting indexes and relationships between tables
- migrating MS Access queries to MySQL views
Also,MS AccesstoMySQL converter can export the source data into MySQL script when there is no direct connection to a destination MySQL server. The program is also capable of merging data into an existing MySQL server, synchronizing the target database with MS Access data. Finally, it has a support command line, which enables the automation, scheduling and scripting of MS Access to MySQL database conversion processes.
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