Database Rebuild Hangs At End of Step 5

[John_Page]

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

I am running Entourage 12.1.5 on an Intel Mac 10.5.6. My database is about 1.5 gigs. On rebuilding, it hangs at the end of Step 5 with the processor pegged. It does this each time I've tried. I am having occasional weird behavior with Entourage (sometimes a selected message can't be displayed until I quit and relaunch - or a selected entry in my address book can't be edited - at all).

Since these are signs of corruption, I want to get the database rebuilt. How can I accomplish this? If I copy the database to another computer could it be rebuilt on that one and then copied back onto mine?

TIA,
John

 

[Diane Ross]

I am running Entourage 12.1.5 on an Intel Mac 10.5.6. My database is about 1.5
gigs. On rebuilding, it hangs at the end of Step 5 with the processor pegged.
It does this each time I've tried. I am having occasional weird behavior with
Entourage (sometimes a selected message can't be displayed until I quit and
relaunch - or a selected entry in my address book can't be edited - at all).

If this a copy of your Identity recovered from Time Machine? How much free
space on your hd?

Since these are signs of corruption, I want to get the database rebuilt. How
can I accomplish this? If I copy the database to another computer could it be
rebuilt on that one and then copied back onto mine?

Can you open the Identity? If yes, then you can manually move into a new
Identity. 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>

Currently, I'm working on a database recovery for an Entourage 2008 user
that had the same problems rebuilding. I even got stuck on 5/5 with over
500GB free. Luckily, I can open the database and am in the process of
recovering the data. This was a recovered Identity from Time Machine and has
bad corruption in calendar events.

This article explains how using a large hd works. It's specific for
Entourage X, but this method works on all versions.

Rebuilding a damaged database that exceeded size limit

<http://tinyurl.com/4s6qv3>

Hope this helps!

 

[John_Page]

Thank you Diane for your speedy reply. No, my identity is not recovered from Time Machine. I have 100 Gigs available on my hard drive.

I can open the identity and made a new identity and then copied over (in the Finder) the contents of the main identity's folder into the new identity. I then launched the database utility and had the same hang on step 5. A verify database says that there's damage and give the following error: ERROR: Corruption detected on index [CTRC:1]. This is cryptic to say the least.

What else may I do? I don't want to wait until it gets worse and worse (my assumption that I will) and end up totally without luck.

 

[Diane Ross]

I have 100 Gigs available on my hard drive.

Probably not enough. You need at least 10% free for the OS. Then you need
lots more to rebuild Entourage. Did you read the article I referenced?

I can open the identity and made a new identity and then copied over (in the
Finder) the contents of the main identity's folder into the new identity. I
then launched the database utility and had the same hang on step 5. A verify
database says that there's damage and give the following error: ERROR:
Corruption detected on index [CTRC:1]. This is cryptic to say the least.

Can you explain how you copied over the contents into the new Identity? You
can't just copy over the database file into a new Identity you have to
export the data then import it into a new Identity.

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)

What else may I do? I don't want to wait until it gets worse and worse (my
assumption that I will) and end up totally without luck.

As long as you have an Identity that will open you can salvage your data.
Make a copy (in the Finder) right now as insurance. Set mail to leave on
server for at least 5 days under Options tab in account window. This will
serve as backup for incoming mail.

 

[John_Page]

I actually have 120 Gigs totally free, empty - that would seem enough for a database that is only 1.5 Gigs - but if that's not enough I can move everything to a terabyte drive that is empty.

I did read the article you referenced - but unfortunately I apparently did not understand it properly as I copied using the finder.

I am unable to export the data as I get an error message about corruption. What should I do next? Try the mbox drag and drop?

BTW, I do have Time Machine backups I can access...

TIA,
John

I have 100 Gigs available on my hard drive.

Probably not enough. You need at least 10% free for the OS. Then you need
lots more to rebuild Entourage. Did you read the article I referenced?

I can open the identity and made a new identity and then copied over (in the
Finder) the contents of the main identity's folder into the new identity. I
then launched the database utility and had the same hang on step 5. A verify
database says that there's damage and give the following error: ERROR:
Corruption detected on index [CTRC:1]. This is cryptic to say the least.

Can you explain how you copied over the contents into the new Identity? You
can't just copy over the database file into a new Identity you have to
export the data then import it into a new Identity.

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)

What else may I do? I don't want to wait until it gets worse and worse (my
assumption that I will) and end up totally without luck.

As long as you have an Identity that will open you can salvage your data.
Make a copy (in the Finder) right now as insurance. Set mail to leave on
server for at least 5 days under Options tab in account window. This will
serve as backup for incoming mail.

 

[Diane Ross]

I actually have 120 Gigs totally free, empty - that would seem enough for a
database that is only 1.5 Gigs - but if that's not enough I can move
everything to a terabyte drive that is empty.

You would thing 120 GB would be enough. If this database was not recovered
from Time Machine at any time, then more free space might be what it takes
to rebuild.

I am unable to export the data as I get an error message about corruption.
What should I do next? Try the mbox drag and drop?

If you can't export everything as .rge file, then try one item at a time. It
could be just one item like mail that is corrupted.

If it is your mail, try MBOX next. There is a script that will do this for
you automatically and gets subfolders. It will fail on a folder with
corruption. Once you know what folder has a problem, you can divide and test
the folder by creating subfolders to locate the bad message. Sometimes you
can actually find the bad message(s) and drag them to the desktop.

After you locate the bad message, continue to drag remaining folders until
you get all your mail.

Export folders as MBOX files using a script (get Jolly's script)
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/export_mbox.html>

Last resort is to drag individual messages out.

BTW, I do have Time Machine backups I can access..

I just spent about 20 hrs salvaging a database (1.86 GB) that was recovered
from Time Machine. The only good thing about the Identity was it could be
opened to salvage the data. It would not rebuild with 500 GB free. I got
stuck on step 5/5.

Console crash log had lots of these:

4/3/09 3:40:01 PM mdworker[166] Invalid char _ for PropertyName in line 25

Using Time Machine to backup Entourage basics:

It's advised by the developers 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.

<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>

 

[John_Page]

Diane,

Well, now we're really on to something. I found that using export if I export everything EXECPT "local contacts" the export goes fine. Is "local contacts" the contacts of my address book? So, what do I do now? I see that I have the import option in the file menu - so go ahead?

Will the import also replace or get rid of the offending "local contacts"?

Thanks so much,
John

I actually have 120 Gigs totally free, empty - that would seem enough for a
database that is only 1.5 Gigs - but if that's not enough I can move
everything to a terabyte drive that is empty.

You would thing 120 GB would be enough. If this database was not recovered
from Time Machine at any time, then more free space might be what it takes
to rebuild.

I am unable to export the data as I get an error message about corruption.
What should I do next? Try the mbox drag and drop?

If you can't export everything as .rge file, then try one item at a time. It
could be just one item like mail that is corrupted.

If it is your mail, try MBOX next. There is a script that will do this for
you automatically and gets subfolders. It will fail on a folder with
corruption. Once you know what folder has a problem, you can divide and test
the folder by creating subfolders to locate the bad message. Sometimes you
can actually find the bad message(s) and drag them to the desktop.

After you locate the bad message, continue to drag remaining folders until
you get all your mail.

Export folders as MBOX files using a script (get Jolly's script)


Last resort is to drag individual messages out.

BTW, I do have Time Machine backups I can access..

I just spent about 20 hrs salvaging a database (1.86 GB) that was recovered
from Time Machine. The only good thing about the Identity was it could be
opened to salvage the data. It would not rebuild with 500 GB free. I got
stuck on step 5/5.

Console crash log had lots of these:

4/3/09 3:40:01 PM mdworker[166] Invalid char _ for PropertyName in line 25

Using Time Machine to backup Entourage basics:

It's advised by the developers 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.

and_time_machine.html>

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

 

[Diane Ross]

Well, now we're really on to something. I found that using export if I export
everything EXECPT "local contacts" the export goes fine. Is "local contacts"
the contacts of my address book? So, what do I do now? I see that I have the
import option in the file menu - so go ahead?

Will the import also replace or get rid of the offending "local contacts"?

If you excluded contacts you will not have any contacts in the import for
the new Identity.

It's possible that syncing to the Apple Address Book will sync the data over
and you could then sync that back to Entourage, but I would test it into a
new Identity first. After importing see if it exports as .rge to verify.

If that doesn't work, you can drag your contacts to the desktop as
individual files. I don't think this gets category info. You would have to
sort by category and drag to folders with category name to be able to
reassign after you import.

You can use Paul Berkowitz's Export Import scripts to try and get out the
contacts. If you export everything but contacts and select to delete after
exporting (do this on a copy) the file should be very small. I could see if
the scripts would get the data out. I had a case where Entourage had 17,000
tasks and would not export, but I was able to export using the scripts and
then open the file in a text editor and clean up for import.

It's huge the problem is not messages. These are the hardest to recovery
since it's usually so many to do individually.

 

[John_Page]

Well, I'm happy to report that I have successfully retrieved all my data and the new identity is functioning well. I've had to re-do my mail rules but that's no big deal - and I was able to sync my contacts from Address Book. It does seem like Entourage's Address Book was the culprit in my initial corruption. I remember a few days ago at work when I first started to notice something odd - I tried to edit a contact and a normally editable field froze and the background field for the name turned a dark blue - and it was "locked."

That especially strikes me as authentic and causative because when I synced the new Addresses over to Entourage, Entourage suddenly crashed and said the database was corrupted and I should rebuild it. Of course my heart sank as everything up to that point had shown I had a new database that was viable and robust. Anyway, fortunately the rebuild went well and I'm fine now. But I'm keeping plenty of backups!

Thanks again to Diane!
John

 

[Diane Ross]

Well, I'm happy to report that I have successfully retrieved all my data and
the new identity is functioning well. I've had to re-do my mail rules but
that's no big deal

That's good news. In the future you can actually drag over the Rules file
and the Mailing List Manager file in your Identity (option drag to copy).
Open each rule and reset folder destinations. A lot quicker than starting
from scratch. I also suggest making screenshots of your rules to aid in
recreating them from scratch.

The Sig file can also be used in the new Identity. No changes to make...just
drag it over.

Be sure you have a _good_ backup strategy now that you have a new Identity.
No hourly Time Machine backups!!

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/articles/backup_articles.html>