Is Creating a New Identity the Solution to a Corrupted Database?

[rydley]

Hello all!

After three recent Entourage database corruption incidents, I have been
able to successfully rebuild my database each time but I can tell that
my current database is not long for this world.

I have looked at moving to other mail clients for the Mac but would
really like to stay with Entourage.

So, my question is, if I want to stay with Entourage, is it best to
create a new Entourage identity and then create MBox files of the mail
folders from the old identity that I want to transfer and then
gradually move them into the new identity?

Is a new identity a kind of "fresh start" (that is, an uncorrupted
database)? Or will some parts of the old, bad database be always
lurking in the new identity?

I can't really think of another way to do it, so I'm hoping the
better-informed folks out there will set me straight, if there's a
better method.

Thanks so much for any advice!

 

[Diane Ross]

After three recent Entourage database corruption incidents, I have been
able to successfully rebuild my database each time but I can tell that
my current database is not long for this world.

What are your indications of database corruption? Is it frequent notices
from the database utility? If this is the cause, try deleting this
preference and see if things improve.

com.microsoft.DatabaseDaemon.plist

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[rydley]

My indications are things like error messages. I haven't noted the
number of the error message but they typically appear when I try to
click on a message to open it and instead of the message opening I see
an error message. Plus, there are times when I am scrolling through
multiple messages and portions of the mailbox will "gray out"
temporarily - that seems to be an indication that something isn't
right. And, more recently, Entourage has had to quit suddenly.

And when I have run the database utility, it has told me that the
database needed repair.

When you mentioned "this preference", what were you referring to? I
looked just now for a pref related to database corruption notification
and didn't see one, so if you could elaborate, that would be great!!

Also, do you have any thoughts on my original question? Is creating a
new identity the best way to go, if I want to continue using Entourage?
I realize that I may end up re-importing the same messages that are
causing problems in my current database. My current database is rather
large and rather old, and has been repaired multiple times over the
years, so perhaps a fresh start is the way to go.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Diane Ross]

My indications are things like error messages. I haven't noted the
number of the error message but they typically appear when I try to
click on a message to open it and instead of the message opening I see
an error message. Plus, there are times when I am scrolling through
multiple messages and portions of the mailbox will "gray out"
temporarily - that seems to be an indication that something isn't
right. And, more recently, Entourage has had to quit suddenly.

If you could jot down these error messages it would help determine what the
problem is. It's just sounding like something other than database
corruption.

And when I have run the database utility, it has told me that the
database needed repair.

BTW, what version of Entourage are you using and what OS? How much RAM? How
full is your hard drive?

When you mentioned "this preference", what were you referring to? I
looked just now for a pref related to database corruption notification
and didn't see one, so if you could elaborate, that would be great!!

Look in your User's Library --> Preferences folder. You will find this file:

com.microsoft.DatabaseDaemon.plist

Try deleting it.

Also check your Startup items folder for multiple Microsoft Database
daemons. If there is more than one, delete all and let Entourage recreate a
new one.

Also, do you have any thoughts on my original question? Is creating a
new identity the best way to go, if I want to continue using Entourage?
I realize that I may end up re-importing the same messages that are
causing problems in my current database. My current database is rather
large and rather old, and has been repaired multiple times over the
years, so perhaps a fresh start is the way to go.

First thing you need to do is create a duplicate of your Identity. You know
this one will open and if things go badly, Entourage might not even open to
allow you to salvage your data. Having this backup would give you the option
to save your data.

Moving to a new Identity can be time consuming, but some times it's quicker
than trying to track down the problem.

Export your contacts as a tab delimited file. Take screen shots of your
folder arrangement, rules.

Create a new Identity and import your contacts. Create everything from
scratch using your screen shots as guides.

This way will give you the cleanest Identity. You can always use Switch
Identity to refer to old mail.

You could create a custom arrangement for mail received the last 8 weeks to
give you some reference mail. This can be imported into the new Identity.
However, if there is corruption in that mail, you could be bringing it over.

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Hello all!

After three recent Entourage database corruption incidents, I have been
able to successfully rebuild my database each time but I can tell that
my current database is not long for this world.

I have looked at moving to other mail clients for the Mac but would
really like to stay with Entourage.

So, my question is, if I want to stay with Entourage, is it best to
create a new Entourage identity and then create MBox files of the mail
folders from the old identity that I want to transfer and then
gradually move them into the new identity?

Is a new identity a kind of "fresh start" (that is, an uncorrupted
database)? Or will some parts of the old, bad database be always
lurking in the new identity?

I can't really think of another way to do it, so I'm hoping the
better-informed folks out there will set me straight, if there's a
better method.

Thanks so much for any advice!

Moving to a new database is, very occasionally, a solution for deep seated
database corruption that cannot be mended by the rebuild engine. However,
that is a very rare occurrence.

If you do have to go that route, then moving the mail as you suggest through
MBOX files would be OK - these are plain text files and unlikely to carry
any of the corruption with them. For items other than mail, take a look at
Paul Berkowitz' Import/Export script suite - this does a more thorough job
of carrying over things like categories etc