How to view old Sybase sql (.db) database data and convert into Sql server

Question

I got a .db database file which one of my friend created through PowerBuilder 6 in Win98. Later I wanted to test that database file, but was not able to view or open it in any of common db viewer and not able to get any data out of it.

please help..

I am using Win7 and do have xp(virtual).

Solution 1

The problem with your description is that PowerBuilder is database-agnostic, so it could be any type of database if it was being used with a PowerBuilder application. However, if you want to go with probabilities (and I'm not sure this is how PB is used most; at one point the most popular database used by PowerBuilder was Oracle), PowerBuilder shipped with a run time license for SQL Anywhere, a database that was originally Watcom, acquired by Powersoft, which was acquired by Sybase, which was acquired by SAP.

Supposing the database you have in hand is SQL Anywhere, you need to get a SQL Anywhere engine. Probably the first thing I'd try is downloading the Developer version of SQL Anywhere and just try to open up a copy with that, see if the software will migrate it to the current version. (My bet is that it will, or will at least provide you with a means.) Another way to get a current version of SQL Anywhere (I think; I haven't tried this in ages) is to download a trial version of PowerBuilder 12.5, which I think comes with SQL Anywhere (the paid version does). If you get that up and running, then you can use a pipeline object in PowerBuilder to pretty easily move data from one database to another. And, for kicks, you can migrate up your PB6 app to see if it still runs. (My bet is that it will take a few tweaks, but fewer than you're probably imagining.)

Good luck,

Terry.

Solution 2

Your .db file is probably a Sybase SQL-Anywhere database. You need to know which version of the engine was used to create the database and then you need the ODBC driver to access that database.