Convert .mdb to .gdb in ArcGIS PRO without desktop

[Ripley]

How can I convert a personal geodatabase to a file geodatabase in ArcGIS Pro? My institute no longer has access to Desktop. It's extremely frustrating that ESRI has discontinued support for a major file type.

In python3.6 (ArcPro), arcpy cannot list the datasets in personal geodabase(*.mdb) files, so this conversion can't be scripted like it can in Desktop. Folks on reddit suggested using the model builder, but no one seems to have a solution besides empty suggestions. For now, I have stopped using ArcGIS for most things and just use QGIS.

If ESRI has no long term solution to handle mdb's, my team will most likely switch to QGIS as our sole GIS software as we use old mdb's frequently.

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

from

ArcMap frequently asked questions—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Can I use personal geodatabases (.mdb) as data sources for ArcGIS Pro?

Personal geodatabases are not supported in ArcGIS Pro. However, in ArcMap you can run a geoprocessing tool to convert personal geodatabases to file geodatabases. Alternatively, in ArcGIS Pro you can make an OLE DB connection to a personal geodatabase. This gives you a read-only view of the data and allows you to import the data into a supported geodatabase.

[JoshLyonsGEO]

This page erroneously suggests there is a solution to this problem: "Convert .mdb to .gdb in ArcGIS PRO without desktop" as of 8-8-2024.

All of the links and replies to date for this issue do not resolve our core problem and unmet professional needs: to convert a PGDB (ArcMap) into any format usable in ArcGIS Pro without ArcMap installed.

The promoted OLE database connection workaround does NOT provide access to the spatial data of the PGDB, only the tabular attribute files...Without the spatial, the attribute tables are useless to 99.99% of GIS users...

[Luke_Pinner]

See the It's Not Personal blog series, the first part of which explains why personal geodatabases aren’t supported in ArcGIS Pro.

Part 1 – quick summary

It’s Not Personal, is the first blog in this blog series and explains why personal geodatabases aren’t supported in ArcGIS Pro.

Microsoft has deprecated support for the Microsoft Jet Database Engine 4.0 libraries and considers t.... This is the Microsoft technology that previously made support for personal geodatabases possible in ArcMap within ArcGIS Desktop. Also, there are no 64-bit versions of these libraries and ArcGIS Pro is a 64-bit application. Since the technology used to make personal geodatabases is no longer supported and Microsoft is advising against using these deprecated formats, there is no viable or supported path forward for offering personal geodatabases in ArcGIS Pro. Moving forward, our recommendation is to migrate your data from a personal geodatabase to either a file or mobile geodatabase.

[JoshuaBixby]

Ah Luke, don't fall for the Esri excuses!  ArcGIS Pro doesn't support personal geodatabases because Esri doesn't want it to, that is it.  The references to Microsoft retiring the Jet Database Engine and that the Jet Database Engine never had a 64-bit library are true, but that is only half the story, the half where Esri can blame another organization for their business decision to not support personal geodatabases in ArcGIS Pro.

Shortly after the Microsoft SQL Server team announced retirement of the Jet Database Engine, the Microsoft Office team announced they would continue to support MS Access through a new Access Connectivity Engine (ACE).  All signs point to ACE being a forked version of Jet that the MS Office team continued development on themselves.  Additionally, and most importantly, the MS Office team already stated in 2005:

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From A discussion of what's new in Access 12 : Access 12's new data engine:

This means Access 12 no longer uses the system Jet engine, but is tightly bound to its own version.  The new version is fully backwards compatible with the old, so it will read & write files from earlier versions without any problems. 

So in 2005, ten years before ArcGIS Pro 1.0 was released, Microsoft had already stated they would have a 64-bit, backward compatible database engine that would work with Jet-based MDB files.

The real kicker is that ArcGIS Pro accesses Excel files using the Microsoft Access Database Engine drivers.

From Install the drivers to work with Microsoft Excel files—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

Microsoft Access Database Engine technology helps bridge communication and external data transfers between files that are proprietary to the Microsoft Office system and other non-Microsoft Office applications such as ArcGIS Pro.

So the MS Access Database Engine drivers are necessary for ArcGIS Pro to open Excel files, the same drivers natively open old (*.mdb) and new (*.accdb) Access files, and yet somehow opening personal geodatabases in ArcGIS Pro is a bridge too far for Esri to cross.  <insert head shake>