REBUILDING DATABASE RESULTS IN ERROR MESSAGE - WHAT NOW?

[CHERYL_CHEZZI]

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

At the start of this year I thought it would be a good idea to clean up my emails. In the process of deleting items from the "deleted items" folder Entourage crashed and since then I have been unable to open the application. An error message says to rebuild the database. I have tried this several times - it goes through all the steps but on step 4/5 (copying records to new database) I get the following error message "an error occurred while attempting to rebuild your database" and can go no further. I have checked and I do have enough free space on my HD to rebuild to.

I can open Entourage using a new identity but then I have none of my previous emails, contacts etc. Please can someone send me any suggestions to to resurrect my original identity as I desperately need to access the info and contacts contained in it?

 

[Diane Ross]

At the start of this year I thought it would be a good idea to clean up my
emails. In the process of deleting items from the "deleted items" folder
Entourage crashed and since then I have been unable to open the application.
An error message says to rebuild the database. I have tried this several times
- it goes through all the steps but on step 4/5 (copying records to new
database) I get the following error message "an error occurred while
attempting to rebuild your database" and can go no further. I have checked and
I do have enough free space on my HD to rebuild to.

Do you have a backup? If not, I hope you take this as a learning experience
and start a backup strategy.

What size is your hard drive? How full? Use the Activity Monitor in
Utilities to find this info.

If the copy Entourage made (will be named backup then date) is the correct
size, then you can go back to this version and try rebuilding. Always work
off a copy of the Identity. Sometimes the copy get mixed with the new and
results in a totally corrupted backup that's twice the size it should be.

Read this article "Rebuilding a damaged database that exceeded size limit"
that shows if you have enough free space you might be able to rebuild your
database.

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2007/09/rebuilding_a_damaged_database_that_e
xceeded_size_limit.html>

In case the above link does not work:

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

Once you get your problem solved, see this article:

Options for end of year archiving (The Entourage Help Blog)
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/12/options_for_end_of_year_archiving.ht
ml>

In case the above link does not work:

<http://tinyurl.com/9dvamb>

 

[Kerry]

Yes, its really important to have backups of your data regardless of
what it is. However, due to the problems with Entourage 08 its more
important than ever. If something goes critically wrong in a database
and rebuild fails you can always go to the backup and hopefully not
loose too much work. In my case, I have 4 backup systems but for
Entourage I use Time Machine for restores. When something goes wrong,
I just go back hour by hour until I get a good database. I keep my
active identity lean (around 100 megs) so that the Time Machine
backups aren't insane and chew up this backup partition (80 gigs) and
I currently hold more than 2 months work of backups. In addition, I
have, over the years, beta tested software and have had to have a
robust backup strategy in case a beta destabilizes something and I'm
not using it in a test environment. One of the pieces of software I'm
currently beta testing directly works against Entourage so yesterday
as I was uncovering and reporting issues, I frequently had to revert
to a Time Machine backup to re-stabilize my environment. I've now
completed my prelimanry tests and have reverted to my production
activities however, as I said, even in a normal environment Entourage
08 messes up, for me, most frequently around sync and more
specifically sync services, so backups are absolutely essential. I
can't tell you how many times I've had to revert to a backup.
Fortunately, since I'm using Time Machine they aren't that dated so
the hassle generally then is just doing an Entourage over write to
sync services to ensure iCal etc and thus my handhelds a Palm TX and a
BlackBerry Curve are correct. Don't expect Microsoft to get Entourage
in good working order any time soon although there are signs from the
new General Manager of the MACBU that they are putting an increased
effort into Entourage to in their words make it at least a peer of
Outlook. I kind of wonder if Apple's strategy to beef up Exchange
support in Snow Leopard may prompt Microsoft to get this product up to
snuff.

 

[Diane Ross]

In my case, I have 4 backup systems but for
Entourage I use Time Machine for restores.

Bad advice for hourly backups of Entourage to Time Machine!!!!!

most frequently around sync and more
specifically sync services, so backups are absolutely essential.

I agree on this. Some users toggle Sync Services on/off to keep everything
in sync to avoid the problems associated with Sync Services.