Entourage Database Corrupt and will not rebuild

[Mabel1076]

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

Please help!!!

Last nigh when looking for a phone number in my entourage I got the message "Entourage cannot acces your database, please restore" or something like this. The database utility opened, but as I was googling this I fond out that I needed at least double the space of the database on my hard drive to restore it. I did not have that (my database is 24Gigas, I have no idea how it got that big) space.

So I ranout and bought a new hard drive (250gigs) and made a carbon copy of the disk (took about 4 hours). I left the old disk (80G, database 24G, free space 18G) aside, so that is would not disturb the hard drive any more. And I installed the new disk with the carbon copy. Everything was exactly the same, including the corrupt database.

I now have enough space. I ran the database utility, but:

The first time I simply got this mesagge: "database has an error. cant restore".

I ran it again, and now I got this message:
Microsoft Error Reporting log version: 2.0

Error Signature:
Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Date/Time: 2009-09-21 22:05:19 -0500
Application Name: Microsoft Database Utility
Application Bundle ID: com.microsoft.entourage.database_utility
Application Signature: MDr1
Application Version: 12.0.0.071130
Crashed Module Name: Microsoft Database Utility
Crashed Module Version: 12.0.0.071130
Crashed Module Offset: 0x0001ba26
Blame Module Name: Microsoft Database Utility
Blame Module Version: 12.0.0.071130
Blame Module Offset: 0x0001ba26
Application LCID: 1033
Extra app info: Reg=en Loc=0x0409

Thread 0
...... (an a lot more text after this)"

Mi entourage still will not open. I really need help. My entire job depends on emails and contacts and my last backup is from February.I know this is terrible of me but my external hard drive broke down a couple of months back so everything there was lost I had not had the chance/nor the money to get a new one and the last file I have is from when I changed from PC to MAC which was on February.

I don't understand how the database got soooo big. On February my OUTLOOK database was 1.8G and this contained the emails from the last 4 years, and now in just 8 months it more than ten folded.

Please, pelase there has to be a way to get my emails back. Please help!

 

[Mabel1076]

Me again...
I tryed restoring the database twice. Both times it stopped saying that there was an error. Both times it created a partial database document called "Database (rebuild)" and both of them are 3.41GB.

Could there be a specific file that is corrupt and therefore ruining the recovery process?

 

[Diane Ross]

Last nigh when looking for a phone number in my entourage I got the message
"Entourage cannot acces your database, please restore" or something like this.
The database utility opened, but as I was googling this I fond out that I
needed at least double the space of the database on my hard drive to restore
it. I did not have that (my database is 24Gigas, I have no idea how it got
that big) space.

Even 250 GB might not be enough space to rebuild a 24 GB database.

You checked that you had a POP account? Is this correct?

What version of Entourage do you have? Look under About Entourage under
Entourage in the Menu bar. It appears from the crash log that you never
upgraded Entourage from 12.0.0. Updating is necessary, but I'm not sure
upgrading will allow the database to rebuild. The extreme size growth sounds
like you have more than the usual database issues.

You need the 12.1.0 (SP1)
12.2.0 (SP2)
12.1.0

It's important to restart between each update and that all Microsoft
applications including the hidden ones are quit.

Steps to update Office after installing from DVD

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

What version of Leopard? Look under the Apple in the Menu bar.

I do database recovery for clients. If you find you need help, you can
contact me off list to discuss your options.

 

[Mabel1076]

Hi Diane.
Thanks for the intrest in my situation.

I have never upgraded. I installed Office 2008 about a year ago. My Entourage version says 12.0.0

I have Mac OS X 10.5.6

How do I contact you off list?

 

[Diane Ross]

I have never upgraded. I installed Office 2008 about a year ago. My Entourage
version says 12.0.0

Many users never upgrade and this can lead to problems. In SP1 there were 50
fixes to Entourage alone.

I have Mac OS X 10.5.6

You need 10.5.8 to be up-to-date.

How do I contact you off list?

dianeross at mvps dot org <-- fix before replying.

Prefix your subject with: newsgroup response

You can also use the email I used to post here too.