Database corrupt, need help

[steagle]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

My client is running Entourage 2008 on a MacBook Pro and a few days ago he received the dreaded Entourage message "Entourage cannot access your data. Please rebuild your database" (or something to that effect). He performed the rebuild which completed successfully, however Entourage still failed to load the database and returned the same error message. Perhaps whatever corruption was in the first database made it into the rebuilt database, which defeats the whole purpose of the rebuild process... or, maybe something else is afoot. Here's everything I tried personally to restore access:
1) Compact database
2) Rebuild database
3) Repair disk permissions
4) Remove database files from Microsoft User Data folder, restarted Entourage, closed Entourage, moved database files back in to User Data folder
5) Created new user account, moved database files to this account
6) Ran Entouraid to recover emails, it crashes at the same place every time (21,000 emails in)
Other information about his database: It is 7GB in size, he has no backups available, he had an Exchange account, and two IMAP Gmail accounts stored in there. He installed no Mac OSX updates or anything from Software Update for some time. No major changes were done to the computer or any other software installed before this happened.

Any help would be most appreciated. We are both near the end of our wits trying to get this crucial database back in working order. Thank you.

 

[Diane Ross]

Other information about his database: It is 7GB in size, he has no backups
available, he had an Exchange account, and two IMAP Gmail accounts stored in
there. He installed no Mac OSX updates or anything from Software Update for
some time. No major changes were done to the computer or any other software
installed before this happened.

If you think about it, rebuilding the database for messages that are not in
the database but on the server is not going to fix the problem. In fact, you
could make changes that copy back to the server making the problem even
worse.

Create a new Identity in Entourage and enter the Exchange and IMAP accounts.
Let them sync back up to the server, BUT before you do this, move the older
messages out of the Inbox.

Optimize Entourage to better work with Exchange

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/03/optimize_entourage_to_better_work_wi
th_exchange.html>

<http://tinyurl.com/56ea7k>

The fact that the user has not updated could be part of the problem. Updates
fix problems. For Entourage there are two updates needed (all the smaller
ones have been rolled into combos) 12.1.0 SP1 and 12.1.5. (newer copies of
Office come with 12.1.0) Be sure you quit all applications before updating.
Log out/in with shift key down then run the MAU found here:

The Office 2008 MAU is now hidden away.

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0

Restart after each updater.

Next, download the Apple combo updater.Doing so overwrites potentially
problem-causing files. Combo updaters will install on the same version as
they¹re applying‹no need to roll back or do a clean install.

Leopard:

Mac OS X 10.5.6 Combo Update
(For both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs )
<http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx1056combou
pdate.html>

Lastly, get started with a backup strategy. Don't moan about lost mail if
you don't bother to backup.

It's advised not to let Time Machine backup your Entourage database. If the
database is copied while being used, the backup could be corrupt. You can
set the Time Machine to exclude the Microsoft User Data folder and create an
iCal event to copy it over at night while not in use so you get one backup
daily in Time Machine.

Alternative method to use Entourage and Time Machine (does a once a day or
whatever time period you select)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/alternative_method_to_use_entourage_
and_time_machine.html>

Entourage and Time Machine (creates chronological backup of Identity can be
used by both Tiger and Leopard)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/entourage_and_time_machine.html>

--
Diane


--
Diane
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>

 

[steagle]

If you think about it, rebuilding the database for messages that are not in

the database but on the server is not going to fix the problem. In fact, you
could make changes that copy back to the server making the problem even
worse.

They are in his database - he manually moves over messages from Exchange and his two IMAP accounts to local folders, which is why his database is so large now. Re-syncing to Exchange is the easy part, it's the local emails that are so crucial to restore because they're not on Exchange. And as far as I know about their Exchange server, it only keeps copies of deleted items for two weeks, so everything he moved from Exchange to his local folders then deleted from Exchange is in limbo now too.

The fact that the user has not updated could be part of the problem. Updates
fix problems.

He is already on OS X 10.5.6, but I will look into the specific Office version updates and see if is on an earlier version.

Lastly, get started with a backup strategy. Don't moan about lost mail if
you don't bother to backup.

It's not my mail, I am a backup freak, I have backups for my backups Obviously it is his fault for not keeping backups. But telling a client that they are screwed for not keeping a backup is not the most tactful way to keep business relations rosy. It may come down to that at the very end but I want to exhaust every other option first.

It's advised not to let Time Machine backup your Entourage database. If the
database is copied while being used, the backup could be corrupt. You can
set the Time Machine to exclude the Microsoft User Data folder and create an
iCal event to copy it over at night while not in use so you get one backup
daily in Time Machine.

Already set it up this way for him last year. He was on a pretty good backup schedule using his external HD, but doesn't have anything more recent than six months for some reason.

So it looks like the only thing I haven't checked on yet is the specific Office updates. Will VNC to his computer and check that now. Assuming he is on the latest update, do you have any other ideas? Do you know anyone who does database recovery?

 

[Diane Ross]

They are in his database

OK, as long as the Identity will open you can salvage the data. You will
need to export all of the data manually. The Entourage archive (.rge) file
is the quickest.

How to manually move your data. (when import fails and/or you need to move
to a new Identity same version or revert to an older version)

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/install/manual_install.html>

I suggest also using one of the MBOX scripts to archive his mail. This way
you can be sure there is a backup of the older mail. For example, do a
custom view and select one of the date options. I would archive all sent
mail by year and all other folders by year as well. If he ever goes belly
up, the old mail is available in MBOX format. You might even consider
creating a second Identity for the really old stuff. This way he can switch
over when he needs to search for archived mail.(MBOX files can be used by
most email applications and are not version specific)

Export folders as MBOX files using a script (I recommend the newest one
Archive Message Folders for ease of use)

It's not my mail, I am a backup freak, I have backups for my backups

I realized that, you can use me as the bad guy to remind him to do backups.
Whatever you setup needs to be automatic.

--
Diane
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>

 

[steagle]

OK, as long as the Identity will open you can salvage the data. You will

need to export all of the data manually. The Entourage archive (.rge) file
is the quickest.

That's the problem - he can't get into his original Identity because the database won't load at all. I can create a new Identity by moving his current database out of the Microsoft User Data folder and relaunching Entourage, but obviously, he does not have access to his emails this way.

 

[steagle]

Let me know if I'm missing something here... by Identity I assume you mean the profile associated with a particular database. If I can somehow export his corrupt database from a different Identity, please, I'm all ears...

 

[Diane Ross]

Let me know if I'm missing something here... by Identity I assume you mean the
profile associated with a particular database. If I can somehow export his
corrupt database from a different Identity, please, I'm all ears...

Terms are often confusing. Profiles, Identity, User.... Not only for
different Mac applications but even more so for switchers.

An Identity in Entourage contains these files:
Database
Mailing Lists
Rules
Signatures

If you cannot open the Identity and rebuild does not work you are out of
luck.

Before we completely give up on rebuild, we need to look at the size of the
hard drive and free space. Often it can take up to 500GB free to rebuild.
Since he had a large database to begin with, do you have a drive you could
use to try the rebuild again. I would use the first version that Entourage
created. It's too late to recommend making a copy in the Finder first
because Entourage's copy can fail leaving you with no backup.

I do recovery of a lot of Entourage X databases. I have a large drive setup
to do just that.

--
Diane
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>

 

[steagle]

Diane, we have plenty of large external HD's to try another rebuild with, but how do I specify what drive Entourage utilizes for the rebuild? If the original database is on the external drive does Entourage automatically write the rebuild to it? Thanks,

 

[Diane Ross]

Diane, we have plenty of large external HD's to try another rebuild with, but
how do I specify what drive Entourage utilizes for the rebuild? If the
original database is on the external drive does Entourage automatically write
the rebuild to it? Thanks,

You need to have the OS and Office installed on the drive. Have fun!

--
Diane
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://tinyurl.com/bzcrjy> <-- Entourage mailing list
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/entouragehelp>