database won't compact

[Matt Neuburg]

Entourage 2008 on Leopard.

My database (a mere 314 MB) verifies in Database Utility (first radio
button) but refuses to compact (second radio button): I get the dreaded
message saying there was an error.

I can't find any source of trouble. I dragged each mailbox to the
desktop to make an mbox, and there were no error messages or anything
like that.

Thx for any ideas - m.

 

[Diane Ross]

My database (a mere 314 MB) verifies in Database Utility (first radio
button) but refuses to compact (second radio button): I get the dreaded
message saying there was an error.

Why would you want to compress something this small? The error could be it's
so small you can¹t make it any smaller.

If you want to verify, use File > Export and select as Entourage archive
(.rge) file all items. If that exports OK then compare the size of the .rge
file to the database size and you'll see if there is any difference. Some
difference is expected for the default files.

 

[Matt Neuburg]

Why would you want to compress something this small? The error could be it's
so small you can't make it any smaller.

If you want to verify, use File > Export and select as Entourage archive
(.rge) file all items. If that exports OK

It doesn't. There really is a problem somewhere - even though verifying
the database with Database Utility claims all is well.

m.

 

[Diane Ross]

It doesn't. There really is a problem somewhere - even though verifying
the database with Database Utility claims all is well.

The database utility isn't perfect. If the export as .rge fails, then
download this script to export as MBOX files. It will fail on the folder
with corruption. When you identify the folder, divide it into segments and
drag the subfolders to the desktop to identify the corrupted message. You
might have to do this several times depending on how many messages are in
the corrupted folder. When you narrow it down, start dragging individual
messages. You should then be able to delete the corrupt message(s).

Export folders as MBOX files (includes subfolders)
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/downloads/scripts/jolly/Make_MBOX.zip>

 

[Matt Neuburg]

Why would you want to compress something this small?

Because compressed it would be 118 MB. That's quite a bit of space
reclaimed.

I solved the problem. But this proves that the Database Utility
verification is crap, because there was a bad message and Database
Utility verified the database as working fine anyway. m.

 

[Matt Neuburg]

It will fail on the folder
with corruption.

No, it didn't. Maybe it didn't export that folder fully, I don't know,
but there was nothing when dragging that folder to the desktop that
indicated a "fail" condition. So I'd suggest that this is not a good
strategy for finding which mailbox has the problem message. m.

 

[Diane Ross]

Because compressed it would be 118 MB. That's quite a bit of space
reclaimed.

I'll respectfully disagree with you on that.

Most Entourage database are several GB. See the poll that's going on to see
what others have. Click on View Results:

No, it didn't. Maybe it didn't export that folder fully, I don't know,
but there was nothing when dragging that folder to the desktop that
indicated a "fail" condition. So I'd suggest that this is not a good
strategy for finding which mailbox has the problem message. m.

It's never failed for me. YMMV