doug.baker-706021 (12/11/2012)
What I really wanted to know was whether you would proceed differently (i.e., more cautiously) knowing the corruption affected a system table as opposed to a user table.
Generally, yes. A system table cannot be repaired, cannot have indexes rebuilt. Typically corruption in a system table means restore from backup with few to no other options available.
Since the error you have isn't really corruption (just bad metadata), perhaps it's fixable. Not an error I've encountered in a system table before.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability