How do you fix a MySQL “Incorrect key file” error when you can't repair the table?

Question

I\'m trying to run a rather large query that is supposed to run nightly to populate a table. I\'m getting an error saying Incorrect key file for table \'/var/tmp/#sql

Answer 1

You'll need to run this command from the MySQL prompt:

REPAIR TABLE tbl_name USE_FRM;

From MySQL's documentation on the Repair command:

The USE_FRM option is available for use if the .MYI index file is missing or if its header is corrupted. This option tells MySQL not to trust the information in the .MYI file header and to re-create it using information from the .frm file. This kind of repair cannot be done with myisamchk.