Problem restoring Entourage

A

alison

Last week my PowerBook G4 was doing a Leopard update and asked to
reboot afterwards. The machine was slow and unpredictable but shortly
afterwards, another request for an update came on. After I had done
the second update, it got itself caught in a loop and wouldn't boot
up. I had to load Leopard again from the CD and having done a
complete backup, or so I thought, I deleted my hard drive and reloaded
everything on again, upgrading from Office 2004 to Office 2008 at the
same time. All but Entourage has worked.

I spent much of yesterday experimenting with files trying to identify
why. What I have noticed is the database icons have changed to a
folder within a folder within a folder, and so on with the last one
being called "OK" and then lots of data files in which are
vrgeContact, vrgeEvent, etc files. It seems the database has split
into individual records. When importing though, these files are
invisible.

I know data is there - it is too big to be nothing but I have loaded
2004 onto my MiniMac seeing if I can get the data to appear there and
onto my G4 but each time, the data appears the same way.

I am getting desperate now as I have lost my diary and address book. I
backed up but now I can't restore it. I have looked on the internet
and have done exactly as it says but regardless, everytime I start up
Entourage, it suggests I am doing so for the first time.

Does anyone have any ideas?
 
B

Bill Weylock

Not sure where to begin on this one.

A missing ingredient for me is exactly how you ³reloaded everything on
again.² Did you have a backup of your home folder? You say you reinstalled
software, but you say nothing about the data files.


Last week my PowerBook G4 was doing a Leopard update and asked to
reboot afterwards. The machine was slow and unpredictable but shortly
afterwards, another request for an update came on. After I had done
the second update, it got itself caught in a loop and wouldn't boot
up. I had to load Leopard again from the CD and having done a
complete backup, or so I thought, I deleted my hard drive and reloaded
everything on again, upgrading from Office 2004 to Office 2008 at the
same time. All but Entourage has worked.

I spent much of yesterday experimenting with files trying to identify
why. What I have noticed is the database icons have changed to a
folder within a folder within a folder, and so on with the last one
being called "OK" and then lots of data files in which are
vrgeContact, vrgeEvent, etc files. It seems the database has split
into individual records. When importing though, these files are
invisible.

I know data is there - it is too big to be nothing but I have loaded
2004 onto my MiniMac seeing if I can get the data to appear there and
onto my G4 but each time, the data appears the same way.

I am getting desperate now as I have lost my diary and address book. I
backed up but now I can't restore it. I have looked on the internet
and have done exactly as it says but regardless, everytime I start up
Entourage, it suggests I am doing so for the first time.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...

Best,

Bill
Imac 2.8Ghz -10.5.1
Office 2008/2003 - Windows XP Pro SP2
 
D

Diane Ross

Last week my PowerBook G4 was doing a Leopard update and asked to
reboot afterwards. The machine was slow and unpredictable but shortly
afterwards, another request for an update came on. After I had done
the second update, it got itself caught in a loop and wouldn't boot
up. I had to load Leopard again from the CD and having done a
complete backup, or so I thought, I deleted my hard drive and reloaded
everything on again, upgrading from Office 2004 to Office 2008 at the
same time. All but Entourage has worked.
Click to expand...

Once you upgrade from Office 2004 to Office 2008 there is no need to do the
upgrade again. You should have saved your Microsoft User Data folder in your
User's Documents folder.
I spent much of yesterday experimenting with files trying to identify
why. What I have noticed is the database icons have changed to a
folder within a folder within a folder, and so on with the last one
being called "OK" and then lots of data files in which are
vrgeContact, vrgeEvent, etc files. It seems the database has split
into individual records. When importing though, these files are
invisible.
Click to expand...

This sounds like the Spotlight files not your database. They are incomplete
files.
I know data is there - it is too big to be nothing but I have loaded
2004 onto my MiniMac seeing if I can get the data to appear there and
onto my G4 but each time, the data appears the same way.

I am getting desperate now as I have lost my diary and address book. I
backed up but now I can't restore it. I have looked on the internet
and have done exactly as it says but regardless, everytime I start up
Entourage, it suggests I am doing so for the first time.
Click to expand...

Unless you have your old Identity located in the Microsoft User Data folder
you have lost all of your old emails.

Entourage expects the folder to be in your Documents folder. For OS X users,
that's the Documents folder in your User's folder. When Entourage opens in a
new blank Identity, it's usually User error. Sometimes updating software
(including the OS) can cause problems where files go missing. See this link
for help finding 'lost' files.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/crashes.html#crash15>

Most likely you have accidentally moved your data. Hopefully, you have not
deleted the file. If you have deleted the trash, it's gone. Sorry!

Select Switch Identity (under Entourage in the Menu bar) and see if your old
identity is still listed.

To find your old database, search for "Microsoft User Data" (without the
quotes).

If you have not used a new identity in Entourage, then copy the entire
Microsoft User Data folder to the correct location.

Fix if you have more than one Microsoft User Data Folder...

Move the entire identity folder you want to use to the Office Identities
folder that Entourage is recognizing. Your identity is named "Main" by
default. Be sure to rename one so you do not overwrite. Your identity folder
can contain more than one identity. Switch Identities to view your old mail.
If you have not used the new identity, delete it. If you have used it and
want to combine the new mail with your original database, drag each folder
to the desktop from one identity. This creates an MBOX file. Switch
identities. Drag the MBOX files into the folder window of Entourage.

You can delete the old folder after you are satisfied with the transfer.
 
A

alison

Just as I was getting despondent, I see three of you have replied.
Thanks so much for trying to help me.

What I did before I erased my hard drive was to copy the folder MAIN
IDENTITY to an external hard drive. When I had reloaded Leopard, I
reloaded Office 2004 and Office 2008 and replaced the main identity
with my backup. I checked inside the folder, saw the folders and
thought that was my data.

My data files, I call my Word, Excel, etc files data files are back on
the hard drive too. It is just my Entourage stuff that is missing.

I feel sick with anger. I have lost my diary, emails and
addressbook. I can't believe it.

Alison



Does this help you.
 
D

Diane Ross

What I did before I erased my hard drive was to copy the folder MAIN
IDENTITY to an external hard drive. When I had reloaded Leopard, I
reloaded Office 2004 and Office 2008 and replaced the main identity
with my backup. I checked inside the folder, saw the folders and
thought that was my data.
Click to expand...

Most likely you didn't put your Main Identity in the correct location. Open
Entourage and let it create a new Microsoft User Data folder. It's locations
is in your User's Document folder.

In the Finder rename this new blank Main Identity to "New Main Identity.

Now drag over your Main Identity that was backed up. Open Entourage and it
should open to your old data. If it doesn't, then check permissions using
Get Info on your old Main compared to the new one created by Entourage.

Did you install Office 2008 and Office 2004? What order did you install? I'm
asking because if you installed Office 2004 after Office 2008 then it would
have installed the old fonts that were disabled with the 2008 installer.
 
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