How does one overwrite tables in a personal gdb?

[pfroemke]

I'm having trouble with ArcGIS 10 not overwriting tables in personal geodatabases (*.mdb). I have the 'overwrite outputs of geoprocessing operations' box checked.

Instead of simply overwriting a table with the new output, it annoyingly appends a "_1" at the end of the name. I can't find info anywhere that states you must delete the old tables before running a process. Maybe this is an issue with personal gdb's compared to file gdb's. I haven't had this problem with file gdb's.

[Hornbydd]

Pam,

I use personal geodatabases all the time and don't have issues with overwritting existing tables. What are you doing, running a single tool or a more complex model? You don't have to accept the default name you can always change it?

Duncan

[pfroemke]

I'm running a single tool--Zonal Statistics by Table--that should overwrite the output as a table. I'm not using the default name given by the tool.

The workaround I've developed is to write the zonal stats output to a file gdb, then run Table to Table to transfer the table from the file gdb to the personal gdb (the only reason I'm using the personal gdb is that it has numerous forms and reports within it that work with these tables). Looks like it might be something specific to the Zonal Stats tool, as I have no problem with Table to Table overwriting the output.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[Hornbydd]

Pam,

This is just a guess but you mention that the Access database has "numerous forms and reports". This suggests to me that this database is not actually a GeoDatabase? I would image that the zonal stats tool is expecting a GeoDatabase to write to and hence your problems. You should create a GeoDatabase and run the zonal stats tool and send output there to test this? You could then link those tables into your other database?

Duncan