crisis - lost all my Entourage data

S

Stefan

Running Entourage 2004 on my Mac osx 10 4 8 . Suddenly it opened up
afresh - and empty; without any identities/data/old mail/folders
/addresses/calendar. I looked in docs/MUD/data olders but couldnt see
anything. Wed had a power cut , but no other obvious cause.
Have I got any chance of recovering all my precious data????? No, I
hadnt backed up my email MUD folder , Id assumed I didnt need
to..doh....
I can hot synch my addresses back, but loss of the folders is really
really bad news....help
Stefan
 
D

Diane Ross

Running Entourage 2004 on my Mac osx 10 4 8 . Suddenly it opened up
afresh - and empty; without any identities/data/old mail/folders
/addresses/calendar. I looked in docs/MUD/data olders but couldnt see
anything. Wed had a power cut , but no other obvious cause.
Have I got any chance of recovering all my precious data????? No, I
hadnt backed up my email MUD folder , Id assumed I didnt need
to..doh....
I can hot synch my addresses back, but loss of the folders is really
really bad news....help
Click to expand...

First search for "Microsoft User Data" to see if the folder was moved either
accidentally or by the crash. Usually when mail disappears it's due to user
error. If the Microsoft User Data folder is moved from your Documents
folder, Entourage will create a new blank Identity. You can search your
computer for "Microsoft User Data" and move it back to the correct location.

After a crash if the OS finds orphaned files during the boot process it
stores these files in an invisible folder named "lost+found'" The folder is
located at the root level of the hard drive. To find this hidden folder
called "lost+found, do a search for "invisible files" and "Microsoft User
Data". If you are lucky, you'll find the missing files.

Let me know the results.

--
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/>
 
B

Barry Wainwright [MVP]

To find this hidden folder
called "lost+found, do a search for "invisible files" and "Microsoft User
Data". If you are lucky, you'll find the missing files.
Click to expand...

Due to a bug in 10.4 (still not fixed in 10.4.8) the finder cannot find
invisible files.

It is better to activate the finder, then under the 'go' menu, select 'go to
folder'. In that dialog, enter "/lost+found" (without the quotes).

If there is a lost+found folder it will open, if not, you will get a 'folder
not found' error.
 
S

Stefan

Thanks, there was nothing found with Finder - Go - folder. However,
using spotlight I did find 5 folders labelled Microsoft User Data. One
was from October, before the crash. It is large - 2.2 gigabytes . Do I
just drag and drop this folder into the Finder in documents/MUD/folders
- if so do I need to delete the existing MUD folder there?
Many thanks for your advice
 
B

Barry Wainwright [MVP]

Inside the MUD folder, there will be a folder called "Office 2004
Identities" (or, "office X identities", depending on your version of
office). Inside that folder, there will be a folder named after each
identity you had in Entourage (by default, the first identity is named "Main
Identity"). Drop these identity folders into the new identities folder in
the newly created MUD folder in Documents, renaming them to avoid any
conflicts.

Now, you can select one of the older identities by choosing 'switch
identity' from the Entourage menu.
 
S

Stefan

Thanks, I have dropped the old named identity folder (1 gig) in with
the other identities (Main plus one new one)
However Entourage now freezes up when I switch identities to the old
identity and try to start it. Shoulf I have dropped any of the other
files in too( the old Main, or contents ie database, rules,
signatures?)
Thanks for bearing with me!
Stefan
 
B

Barry Wainwright [MVP]

You should have dropped the full identity folder and all it's contained
files - nothing more.

If it is freezing entourage, that may be due to database corruption in that
identity (which may be symptomatic of why it suddenly disappeared off tot he
trash - it could have been damaged through disk corruption)

Hold down the option ley when starting Entourage until you see the rebuild
screen - it will ask you which identity you want to rebuild, select the one
that is giving you troubles and then go a and watch a show...

--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see http://mvp.support.microsoft.com for details)
The Entourage User's WebLog has moved!
For hints, tips and troubleshooting go to <http://www.barryw.net/weblog/>
 
S

Stefan

thanks. I have rebuilt the identities, but I still get a crash and
freeze when I try to use the former one. New one works ok, but I cant
get at the gigabyte of old data.
Should I rename it?
Thanks for your patience with this!!
 
S

Stefan

thanks. I have rebuilt the identities, but I still get a crash and
freeze when I try to use the former one. New one works ok, but I cant
get at the gigabyte of old data.
Should I rename it?
Thanks for your patience with this!!
 
D

Diane Ross

thanks. I have rebuilt the identities, but I still get a crash and
freeze when I try to use the former one. New one works ok, but I cant
get at the gigabyte of old data.
Should I rename it?
Thanks for your patience with this!!
Click to expand...

Try holding the shift key down when opening Entourage. A neat trick with
Entourage 2004 is that you can start it up from default settings - i.e. with
Send & Receive All schedule OFF (Manual only) - by holding down the Shift
key at startup - like "Extensions Off" when starting up your Mac. That
allows Entourage to launch without crashing in situations like this. If you
have schedules set to send and receive at launch, you need to check your
Outbox and check your server for a corrupt message.

Turn off Preview Pane before checking. (If you have POP accounts, you'd do
it by Allow Online Access in the Options page of the account settings, then
checking the server icon now appearing in the Folders List and turn off
Preview Pane. If IMAP, Exchange or Hotmail just check your Inbox and folders
affected by rules with Preview Pane turned off.) Delete the message (which
actually marks it for Deletion form the server), connect to the server (Send
& Receive All).

--
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/>
 
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