thanks for all the feedback on this...problem with outsourcing it overseas is that the data is very sensitive and there is only one copy held in a secure fireproof room...company...

thanks for the reply,

im trying to avoid the manual data entry route as there is a large room full of records spanning 100 years....but there may be no other way...

thanks for the reply... i found something called apex sql clean at http://www.apexsql.com/frame_downloads.htm

it looks good ..im running the evaluation version through 3000 asp files...will wait and see 

I edidnt want to mention point a on this board !

Thanks for the posts guys...I had already confirmed that the refdate does not change b4 my initial post. I was hoping that I would not have to use the log...

thanks for the guys...ill keep that in mind when archiving the additional data