Archiving mailboxes.

[Joseph Chamberlain, DDS]

Dear all:

I apologize for placing this questions again but I haven't yet received an
answer to my problem.

This problem may have been discussed here before but since I can't seem to
find messages that relate to this subject I decided to post my question.

My Entourage database has reached 4 GB which I understand is the size limit
for the MUD. I need to archive my messages urgently as I am afraid Entourage
will stop working soon and to restore it to normal function (it is very slow
now).

I am about to archive several mailboxes I have in Entourage. The last time I
performed an archival of mailboxes Entourage created a file with an .mbox
extension for every mailbox I archived. It's been a while since I've done
it. If my memory servers me right I dragged the mailboxes I wanted to
archive to the desktop to do it. Then I simply created a folder where I
stored the mailbox files for archival purposes. In case this is not the
right procedure, I would appreciate if any colleague could point out what
the right procedure is.

It seems to me that the .mbox format is not searchable by Spotlight. Is this
right ?

In case these .mbox files created from the archival of Entourage mailboxes
are not indexed and searched by Spotlight, is there a way to archive these
mailboxes that would make them searchable ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Dr. Joseph Chamberlain
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

 

[Justin S.]

Interesting...I didn't know that the database file had a 4GB limit.
That concerns me since mine is currently at 3.64 GB. I personally
don't like Spotlight at all and would prefer to continue to use
Entourage to search old messages...I'm wondering if it would work to
archive some mailboxes using the method you indicate (which creates an
..rge file I think), then create a new Entourage identity and import the
archived messages into the new identity? It would mean switching
identities to search the archive, but that would at least mean the
messages could be searched since I don't think Spotlight will search
Entourage archives anyway.

 

[Justin S.]

Well this is odd: I just tried my own solution (exported old messages
to Archive, then created a new identity and imported the archive), but
the database file for the main identity didn't get any smaller.

After importing the archive into the new identity, I went back to the
main identity and deleted the items I archived, then emptied the trash.
When the database file did not get any smaller, I tried re-starting
Entourage, then I tried logging out and logging back in to the
computer. The messages certainly seem to have been deleted from the
identity, but the file is still 3.64GB (as it was before the export).
The size of the new identity is 736 MB, so I would have expected the
main identity database to decrease to about 2.9 GB. Hmmm...

 

[Jim Lange]

From
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/resources/resources.aspx?pid=resourcekits&rk=of
ficex&article=/mac/officex/ork/Configure_Entourage.xml#rebuilding_database_t
ypical:

Compacting the Database

When a user deletes an item, Entourage does not automatically reduce the
size of its database. However, the corresponding space is free to be reused
when new items are added to the database. In certain situations, a user
might want to reclaim space on a hard disk by compacting the database (for
example, after deleting many Entourage items). The user can compact the
database by performing a typical rebuild of the database.

 

[Michel Bintener]

Joseph and Justin-

the 4GB limit affects Entourage 2001 and v.X only. Entourage 2004 only has a
limit concerning the number of items it can contain, which is 2 million
database items. (N.B. a database item can be anything, a note, a task, a
contact, etc.)

So, it would not be necessary to create an archive, but as you've said,
since Entourage is getting quite slow for you, it might be worth giving it a
try. Then again, before you actually create archive files, you should
compact your database to see if that does not dramatically reduce your
database's size. To do so, hold down the Option-key when launching
Entourage, and select compact database in the Database Utility that shows
up.

Other than that, yes, you can create .mbox archives by dragging the folders
from Entourage to the desktop, and no, I don't think they're
Spotlight-searchable, but I might be wrong. You could also export your
database as an .rge archive, a new feature in Entourage 2004. To create a
searchable database backup (for your emails, at least), you could select an
email folder, select all the messages it contains and drag them to a folder
on the desktop. That way, your messages will be exported as .eml messages,
which are as a matter of fact text files and therefore searchable by
Spotlight.

 

[Michel Bintener]

the 4GB limit affects Entourage 2001 and v.X only. Entourage 2004 only has a
limit concerning the number of items it can contain, which is 2 million
database items. (N.B. a database item can be anything, a note, a task, a
contact, etc.)

I've just realised I was wrong: Entourage 2001 only has a 2GB limit, and
Entourage v.X only has a 4GB limit if the 10.1.2 update has been applied.
That being said, what I've written about Entourage 2004 having no limit is
still true. Just wanted to point out the minor mistakes I'd made.

 

[Michel Bintener]

I've just realised I was wrong: Entourage 2001 only has a 2GB limit, and
Entourage v.X only has a 4GB limit if the 10.1.2 update has been applied.
That being said, what I've written about Entourage 2004 having no limit is
still true. Just wanted to point out the minor mistakes I'd made.

And I've also just read on this website
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/size.html> that an Entourage
database item is NOT, as I claimed in one of my earlier posts, an item like
a task or a note, but that it's more than that. Read the website for more
details.

Gosh, that should teach me not to post early in the morning. Sorry for all
the confusion!

 

[Joseph Chamberlain, DDS]

Thank you very much Michel for your reply and the information.

It seems the solution you offered would be a good one for my situation. I
have one concern and question. In selecting all messages in a particular
mailbox folder in Entourage and dragging them to a folder so that they are
exported as searchable .rge text file messages, I am afraid the process may
be somewhat slow or generate some type of system conflict. Some of my
mailboxes contain literally thousands of e-mail messages. The last time I
archived messages I had mailboxes from different discussion lists I
subscribed to that had more than 10,000 messages. Could this be a problem ?
I am prepared for this operation to be slow but how slow will it really be
and could it create some kind of crash (Entourage or system) ?

Joseph

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Joseph-

just to make it clear, the dragging will result in the creation of *.eml*
files; *.rge* files are Entourage archives, which you can create with
Entourage's export function.

Anyway, to answer your question: no, it *should* not cause problems for
either Entourage or the system. But then again, neither Entourage nor Mac OS
X's Finder are 100% bullet-proof, so you might want to use a step-by-step
approach, i.e. drag only a few hundred messages at a time. I've never done
anything like that before (my database is still only a humble 100 MB or so),
so I can only speak from a theoretical point of view.

Just a couple of final comments: as you may have read in one of the other
posts, your Entourage database will remain the same size, even if you delete
all your email messages. So, after the "big migration" (and after deleting
all your old messages), you might want to compact your database by holding
down the Option key when you launch Entourage.

Michel

 

[Joseph Chamberlain, DDS]

Hello again, Michel:

Thank you very much for the very helpful information. This is exactly the
type of information I needed and was looking for.

Joseph