Bloating database

L

Lorene Romero

Thank you for Bill and Diane who were indispensible with my recent corrupt
database issue. I ended up just breaking down and creating a new identity
and start from scratch. You were correct, it took almost all day to get a
whole new identity and save my contacts and messages.

I have the most current OS and most current version of Entourage in Office
08. Two weeks ago, when I made the new identity, I changed from POP to IMAP
in anticipation to using mobile me, iPhone and Entourage. It brought my
corrupt data base down to the normal 574 (or so) MB.

During those two weeks I have deleted a lot of mail from my sent folder and
emptied the trash. Although I had expected the database get smaller it has
now gone up to 640 MB. I have verified (says it is fine) and rebuilt but the
size still does not go down.

Is this 75 MB bloat, in two weeks normal? I have done everything I can think
of prior to writing this list. Any suggestions of where to go now?

Thank you for your time -Lorene
 
W

William Smith

Lorene said:
During those two weeks I have deleted a lot of mail from my sent folder and
emptied the trash. Although I had expected the database get smaller it has
now gone up to 640 MB. I have verified (says it is fine) and rebuilt but the
size still does not go down.

Is this 75 MB bloat, in two weeks normal? I have done everything I can think
of prior to writing this list. Any suggestions of where to go now?

Hi Lorene!

Thank you for the kudos!

Actually, yes, this is probably normal.

Databases *grow* dynamically but they do not *shrink* dynamically. When
you delete messages they are indeed removed but the space in the
database is not deleted.

This isn't necessarily bad. If you maintain your messages by deleting
what you don't want on a regular basis then your database will actually
reach a plateau where it won't grow anymore. New messages will simply
fill in the spaces left by the old messages.

If you want to shrink your Database file then you can hold the Option
key down while you launch Entourage. Choose the "Compact" option rather
than the "Rebuild" option.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
 
L

Lorene Romero

Thank you Bill for the help. This list is phenomenal I hope you and Diane
get recognized for your hard work -Lorene
 
L

Lorene Romero

Just checking in again. My data base has grown from 640 mb on 7/26 now to
675 on 8/4. So jumping about 100 MB in a month is still normal? Per your
suggestion I did do a compact and rebuild later but nothing got smaller.

I guess my concern is that it was sooo damaged earlier that I had to
completely recreate a new identity and it took hours (as you know) that I am
hoping it is not still damaged. I have had some attachments but gosh not 100
mb worth.

Thank you for your patience, I believe you when you say it grows, I just
did not expect it to do so in such leaps and bounds. It has never been this
large before -Lorene
 
D

Diane Ross

Lorene, growing in MB is nothing. If it were growing in GB then you should
be concerned. Your database is tiny. A typical database is abound 2GB. Some
users have 15GB databases.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top