Yikes! "verify/rebuild database"

[kitkatgo]

Hi, it scares me to get a message that I should verify my database and
possibly rebuild it. I think I did this last year and lost everything.

Could you just walk me through this before disaster strikes? I
archived all my mail to a remote hard drive to free up space and all
is running well, but I got that message that database might be
corrupted and should verify/rebuild.

By the way, when I archived mail, it did not take lots of mail that
is in folders on the left. How do I archive these too?

I LOVE Entourage and really, really want it to work for me...

Thanks! Kit

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Kit,

as usual, the most important rule is: "Don't panic!" First of all, make sure
you have a backup copy of the Microsoft User Data folder inside your
Documents folder, as that's where Entourage stores all its data.

Next, verify the database. Quit Entourage, then hold down the option (alt)
key and launch it again. The Database Utility application will now launch,
and you should then verify your database. After that, you're pretty much on
your own; if the utility tells you that your database is damaged and needs
to be rebuilt, then you have no other choice but to do just that. A rebuild
makes you lose internal links between Entourage items and category
associations, but apart from that, your data should be recoverable.

If you can still access your data in Entourage, you might want to export
your existing data through Entourage 2004's Export feature. Click on
File>Archive, make sure every item is selected, then proceed with the
export. The resulting archive can be imported into a new Entourage identity,
should you be forced to create a new one.

If there are any other questions, just ask. Good luck!

Hi, it scares me to get a message that I should verify my database and
possibly rebuild it. I think I did this last year and lost everything.

Could you just walk me through this before disaster strikes? I
archived all my mail to a remote hard drive to free up space and all
is running well, but I got that message that database might be
corrupted and should verify/rebuild.

By the way, when I archived mail, it did not take lots of mail that
is in folders on the left. How do I archive these too?

I LOVE Entourage and really, really want it to work for me...

Thanks! Kit

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***

 

[Diane Ross]

Could you just walk me through this before disaster strikes? I
archived all my mail to a remote hard drive to free up space and all
is running well, but I got that message that database might be
corrupted and should verify/rebuild.

Before you rebuild, try deleting this preference file in your User's -->
Library Preferences:

com.microsoft.OfficeNotifications.plist

To see if the background verify option is giving a false report, try running
the Database Utility and having it do a verify operation.

Other options that can cause this error message:

* Bad RAM.
* Being low on disk space. To check your disk space, use the Activity
Monitor. Click on Disk Usage in the bottom menu bar and select the volume
where you have Office installed. You can also use Disk Utility to see
detailed information about a disk or volume. To learn more, open Disk
Utility in the /Applications/Utilities folder and refer to Disk Utility
Help.

If you still find that you need to rebuild. Make a duplicate of your Main
Identity folder. (called Main by default) The rebuild does make a duplicate,
but if the rebuild goes bad then the backup could also be corrupted.

For full details on rebuilding:

By the way, when I archived mail, it did not take lots of mail that
is in folders on the left. How do I archive these too?

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/archive.html>
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>