Mysql – Restoring MySQL 8.0 server from cold backup files

The InnoDB dictionary contains information about all tables in your database(s). The dictionary is a set of InnoDB tables hidden from a user.

Looks like a records about example_example/table1 is missing in the dictionary.

I'd explore content of SYS_INDEXES and SYS_TABLES to see if the table is in it. https://twindb.com/how-to-recover-innodb-dictionary/

I finally figured out and resolved my problem through a lot of trial and error. For those who do not have their original ibdata1 file, and only have their .frm and .ibd files, here's how I restored my data.

1. Download and install the MySQL utilities at -> http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/utilities.
2. Go into your command/terminal to open the MySQL utility, mysqlfrm, and use it to find the structure of your table that you need to restore. How I did that, was I cd'ed into the file location of mysqlfrm, then entered "mysqlfrm --server=user:pwd@localhost --port=3307 "path_to_.frm_file" > table_name.txt". The .txt file should be saved in the same folder as where your utilities are saved if you didn't specify where you wanted it to go.
3. In the text file, you'll see the CREATE TABLE statements, that include all the columns and info (basically, the original structure) of your table. Copy that CREATE statement with all that info.
4. In your MySQL Command, create a new database (CREATE DATABASE database_name). Make it the same name as your original database name.
5. Create a new table inside the new database--it doesn't have to be the same name as the folder. You can create the new table inside the command prompt, but I created my table in PhpMyAdmin, a free software tool that handles the administration of MySQL over the web. I simply clicked on the database on PhpMyAdmin, then the SQL table, and pasted the table structure from #3. (As a side note, I always received errors if I named my tables "table" in my command prompt, so try to avoid that name).
6. On your MySQL Command, go into your database, and enter "ALTER TABLE table_name DISCARD TABLESPACE", which will essentially remove this table's .ibd file.
7. Copy your original table (the table you want to restore)'s .ibd file into the newly-created table to replace the .ibd file that you just removed. Change your initial .ibd file to the newly created table's name. This will mimic the old .ibd file that you just deleted. You can find this folder in the MySQL data folder, under the newly-created database folder on your computer.
8. Go back to your MySQL Command, go into your database, and enter "ALTER TABLE table_Name IMPORT TABLESPACE." You'll receive a "warning" (1) error-type statement, but just ignore that.
9. And done! if you try to access your new table, it should contain all the data from your old table.

I hope this helped, and let me know if you have any questions or comments! Also, check out http://www.chriscalender.com/?tag=innodb-error-tablespace-id-in-file for other details.