loss of a year's emails - when importing mbox files

[divya1708]

Hi,

I had to restore my computer's OS and took a back up of my entourage
email by dragging the inbox/sent/drafts folders onto the desktop and
saving the mbox files on an ext.hd.

now when I import the files - there are no emails after till january
07 !
(one year - jan 07 to feb 08 is wiped out) nothing before that has
been lost (2001 onwards)

is there anything i could be doing wrong ? (is there any hope?)

Cheers,
Divya Kumar

 

[Adam Bailey]

I had to restore my computer's OS and took a back up of my entourage
email by dragging the inbox/sent/drafts folders onto the desktop and
saving the mbox files on an ext.hd.

This was probably not the best way to backup Entourage, by the way. Your
email, along with everything else of value, is stored in your Documents
folder. You should have backed up that whole folder.

More information about backing up your Entourage data can be found at

now when I import the files - there are no emails after till january
07 !
(one year - jan 07 to feb 08 is wiped out) nothing before that has
been lost (2001 onwards)

is there anything i could be doing wrong ? (is there any hope?)

Let's start by seeing if you saved the data, which will determine if the
information can be restored. Open up the .mbox files into TextEdit.app and
see if you can find older emails. The files may be somewhat hard to read at
first, but look for Date headers.

If the older emails are there, it may just be a display issue. Do a search
(Edit > Find) or a Custom Mail View to see if the older mail is there, but -
perhaps - is hidden.

 

[Diane Ross]

Let's start by seeing if you saved the data, which will determine if the
information can be restored.

What's the size of these MBOX files? It sounds like your originals are
empty.

 

[divya1708]

What's the size of these MBOX files? It sounds like your originals are
empty.

the inbox.mbox file is 644.3 MB.

 

[divya1708]

This was probably not the best way to backup Entourage, by the way. Your
email, along with everything else of value, is stored in your Documents
folder. You should have backed up that whole folder.

More information about backing up your Entourage data can be found at



Let's start by seeing if you saved the data, which will determine if the
information can be restored. Open up the .mbox files into TextEdit.app and
see if you can find older emails. The files may be somewhat hard to read at
first, but look for Date headers.

If the older emails are there, it may just be a display issue. Do a search
(Edit > Find) or a Custom Mail View to see if the older mail is there, but-
perhaps - is hidden.

Hi Adam,
thanks for this. i had lost all email once when i only saved the
Microsoft user data folder. then i was told about this way of dragging
to create mbox - and i've had no trouble till now. anyway i've got the
inbox.mbox slowly opening on text edit so lets see what i find. it
strange that the drafts folder has all letters till 11 feb. could it
be that there's a limit on data stored in the mbox format? both sent
and inbox folders are showing a loss of data.

Cheers,
Divya

 

[divya1708]

This was probably not the best way to backup Entourage, by the way. Your
email, along with everything else of value, is stored in your Documents
folder. You should have backed up that whole folder.

More information about backing up your Entourage data can be found at



Let's start by seeing if you saved the data, which will determine if the
information can be restored. Open up the .mbox files into TextEdit.app and
see if you can find older emails. The files may be somewhat hard to read at
first, but look for Date headers.

If the older emails are there, it may just be a display issue. Do a search
(Edit > Find) or a Custom Mail View to see if the older mail is there, but-
perhaps - is hidden.

i have also just found a backup of the mcsft usr dta folder that i
took september last year. that should then give me back most of my
email..

 

[Diane Ross]

the inbox.mbox file is 644.3 MB.

Check the permissions on them. Create a new MBOX in your current set up as a
comparison.

Use Get Info to see permissions.

 

[Adam Bailey]

thanks for this. i had lost all email once when i only saved the
Microsoft user data folder.

That shouldn't happen, did you come to us at the time? 99% of the time this
is reported, the solution is to Switch Identity.

then i was told about this way of dragging to create mbox - and i've had
no trouble till now.

Which is fine in practice but you have to recreate everything else - account
settings, rules, etc.

anyway i've got the inbox.mbox slowly opening on text edit so lets see
what i find. it strange that the drafts folder has all letters till 11
feb. could it be that there's a limit on data stored in the mbox format?
both sent and inbox folders are showing a loss of data.

There's no practical limit, but larger files are more unwieldy to work with
and wills tart to slow down your computer. You also increase your chances at
corruption.