recover Entourage mail database

[foilpan]

I have a user who reached the Entourage database limit of 4gb, so she can't launch the mail client without requiring a compact first.

Someone else compacted her database the other day, but this yielded a mail file that still didn't work.

It seems the db's original size might have been 1.76gb or so. I have that and the 4gb file to work with.

Neither of these works after compacting, rebuilding, or otherwise. All attempts to import either db into Mail have failed. I haven't tried wrestling with any other mail client just yet.

This article mentions grepping for strings and outputting a new mbox file for importing elsewhere.

What do you all think? Is this my last resort? These people have made a priority of recovering this mail. Do any of you have other suggestions or tips on how best to approach building this new mbox file?

Many thanks...

- nate

[AHunter3]

How in the world does someone end up with 4 gigabytes of email?

My entire Eudora Folder is less than half a gig, and I've got all my email in it. Seriously, inbound and outbound dating back to 1991, plus file attachments.

[foilpan]

Quote: Originally Posted by AHunter3 How in the world does someone end up with 4 gigabytes of email? My entire Eudora Folder is less than half a gig, and I've got all my email in it. Seriously, inbound and outbound dating back to 1991, plus file attachments.

good question... it looks like they get a lot of attachments for press releases and such. now, i wish i could tell these people not to accept huge files via email, but that's not my place, unfortunately.

does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with this entourage mess?

[Norm Nager]

Offfice X, indeed, has a 4 GB maximum capacity for its Entourage database. Office 2004's dwarfs that by comparison.

Quote: [Entourage 2004] has no size limit, just a limit to the number of items in the Entourage database: 2 million database items.

That's database items, not Entourage objects (such as messages, contacts, events, etc.). Dave Cortright, Entourage developer explains it this way:

Quote: An email or news message is actually TWO database items, and for anyone with near a million Entourage objects (messages, contacts, events, etc.), they will almost all be messages - the other stuff will be "loose change". So the limit is effectively just under 1 million messages.

[mclbruce]

I agree with Norm. If you upgrade to Office 2004 you may be able to import one or the other of the databases that aren't working in Office X. I have clients that have 8GB databases in Office 2004.

AHunter3 I hope you weren't drinking coffee or eating as you read that last sentence, I wouldn't want you to choke or anything! :-)

[foilpan]

Quote: Originally Posted by mclbruce I agree with Norm. If you upgrade to Office 2004 you may be able to import one or the other of the databases that aren't working in Office X. I have clients that have 8GB databases in Office 2004. AHunter3 I hope you weren't drinking coffee or eating as you read that last sentence, I wouldn't want you to choke or anything! :-)

i already tried that. importing in entourage 2004 failed.

at one point, i copied the DB to my laptop, tried launching Entourage 2004 from a fresh install, and the Database Utility seemed to hang while trying to repair and compact it. after i force quit the utility, i noticed it had created a 20gb database file on my laptop.

so what else do you suggest?

[AHunter3]

An Entourage database is a single file containing all this mess?

How close is it to 4 GB? Would you conceivably lose enough bytes to get it below the 4 gig threshold by putting it on a smaller hard drive? (Minimum allocation block size shrinks as drive size shrinks, but with one file rather than a cluster of small files it won't change much).

I know it's totally not helpful to say it to you or to the folks whose email this is, but this thread sure makes a good poster-child example of why you should not use an email client that stores its data in a single file of proprietary format.

[foilpan]

Quote: Originally Posted by AHunter3 An Entourage database is a single file containing all this mess? How close is it to 4 GB? Would you conceivably lose enough bytes to get it below the 4 gig threshold by putting it on a smaller hard drive? (Minimum allocation block size shrinks as drive size shrinks, but with one file rather than a cluster of small files it won't change much). I know it's totally not helpful to say it to you or to the folks whose email this is, but this thread sure makes a good poster-child example of why you should not use an email client that stores its data in a single file of proprietary format.

well, the 4 gig file -- it really is that big -- is probably not the best one to work on. i have the original database, which is about 1.7 gigs. right now, i'm churning through it with entouraid, which has been able to recover a lot of the mail. it seems to recover received mail only, though i haven't checked it all yet. the 4 gig file might have resulted from a bad pass of the db repair utility.

moving the file to a smaller drive won't really do much to help me recover. i'll see how entouraid works and report back.

from this experience, i've learned two things:

1. people and businesses who rely on their email should back up every last bit of it on a regular basis.

2. i will never use or recommend entourage as an email client unless the client absolutely insists on it.

[mclbruce]

Entouraid looks like a good thing to know about. Thanks for posting the link. I wish I had some more suggestions for you.

[ryanhunt]

I am using Entourage 2004 and have just experienced something similar. My Database file grew to over 4GB and now causes a full application crash when I try to open it.

In order to open the application, I must delete all preferences, rename the identity, and create an new identity that is empty; however, I can find no way to import my old stuff into the new DB?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to recover this?

The mail fortunately I have backed up by forwarding all my mail to an archive account which is downloaded into Mail (a better mail app, but not a full PIM). However, I have eFax and all my faxes are lost, as well as all my other attachments, rules, notes, project specific data etc.

I keep nightly backups of my whole home directory via rsync incremental, but have not been able to find a DB that can survive the backup process and restore correctly. So far, I have gone back about 2 weeks and still no luck.

[Norm Nager]

Sounds like corrupt preferences or a corrupt database. See my post earlier in this discussion on the 4 GB limit on the Office X DB being radically increased in Office 2004.

Launching Entourage 2004 with option key depressed will give you an opportunity to test the validity of the database and give you options, if the database is found to be in trouble, to rebuild it.

Respectfully, Norm

[ryanhunt]

I have removed and reinstalled 4 times on this computer. I have removed and reinstalled on other computers on my network to make sure they weren't grabbing information across the network. (3 computers) I have rebuilt the database, sometimes twice, and repeated the procedure for almost all the daily backups for July.

I also have a ".rge" export that is a couple months old. 2.5GB. But when I try to import this no messages come across, and the resulting Database file is only 87MB.

http://www.hunthost.com/supportissue...ageVersion.png

http://hunthost.com/supportissues/En...7/DBChecks.png

http://hunthost.com/supportissues/En.../DBWorking.png

http://hunthost.com/supportissues/En...0607/Crash.png

http://hunthost.com/supportissues/En...lity_Crash.txt

[yungfilms]

hi- i'm a new member. my powerbook g4 was stolen yesterday, luckily i backed-up that same morning. problem is - i've been backing up my entourage 2004 by copying my "microsoft user data" folder to my ext. HD and not performing a proper "export/archive". now, of course, i'm having problems importing my data - years of emails, addresses, etc. quite disheartening. i seem to recall that in the past w/ outlook, i would just copy the user data folder but that doesn't seem to be the case w/ entourage 2004. i've tried importing from the backed-up user data folder to no avail into entourage and Mail. is there any way to get back my data? when i do a spotlight search for old emails, it turns up subject headings from the backed-up user data folder, which leads me to believe that there must be a way to retrieve my data. can anyone help me with a few tips or solutions? thanks...

[ryanhunt]

Quote: Originally Posted by yungfilms ...copying my "microsoft user data" folder to my ext. HD and not performing a proper "export/archive"...

You should be able to just copy the Microsoft User Data folder back to the Documents folder in your home directory. Did you try this? What happens when you do?

-Ryan Hunt
http://www.ryanhunt.biz

[yungfilms]

hi - thanks for the quick response...

i copied the microsoft user data folder back into my home directory. the results are so-so. i get a portion of my address book but nothing in my inbox, sent folder, and personal folders.

by all rationality this should work, and i used to do this when i was working w/ outlook. my microsoft user folder is 1.1gb in size --- should contain all my emails and data, right? when i spotlight search and try to open an email, entourage tells me that "the item couldn't be recognized and may be renamed or deleted." i don't think i'll have much luck getting anything back.

[Norm Nager]

YungFilms, here are a couple options:

1. Quit out of Entourage and all Microsoft programs and then with the option key held down, launch Entourage. The dialogue will give you several choices. You might start with "Verify Database Integrity." If there's a problem indicated or not, you might then click on "Rebuild Database."

2. Check on a shareware application from Paul Berkowitz that I've never used but which I'd try if the rebuild did not work for me, "Export-Import Entourage" http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15279

Quote: VersionTracker's description, in part, says: 50 scripts to export and import almost everything - Contacts, Groups, Calendar Events, Tasks, Notes, Messages, Folders, Accounts, Signatures, Mailing Lists and Categories - from one identity of Entourage X or 2001 to any other, and to transfer Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes to and from other PIM programs on the Mac and Windows, with special converters for Microsoft Outlook, Excel and other programs. . . . v1.3.10 is for both Entourage 2004 and Entourage X, and will work in Tiger OS 10.4, Panther OS 10.3 and Jaguar OS 10.2. . . . You can import/export between all versions of Entourage, Outlook, Palm Desktop and other PIMs.

Does either of the options work for you?

Respectfully, Norm

[dianeross]

If you have access to Classic and Outlook Express for Mac, try the fix described here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/user/index.html#user6>

FWIW, Entourage X has a 4 GB limit on the Database file (there is no Messages file), and you will be warned as you near the limit. As you finally get close enough, it will force you to compact your database. You'd have to work really hard to lose data with Entourage X.

Note: You must use the 10.1.2 updater from Mactopia to get that 4 GB size plus warnings. The earliest release version of Entourage X did not have those features.

Before you heap insults on the Entourage database, did the user upgrade or just run Entourage as initially installed?

[blt]

Recovering a corrupt Entourage Data Base files can be done in some circumstances.

The first thing to do is quit all open MS Apps.

Next:

1 - Launch Entourage while holding down the Option key. This will present you with a dialogue window prompting you for the method you wish to use to attempt to rebuild the file.

2 - Click "Typical" *Be patient, this can take some time. If and when the Typical rebuild option fails, you will be presented with an option to attempt an "Advanced" rebuild.

3 - Select "Advanced" *again, patience is key. If you have a lot of e mail, attachments, addresses etc, this can take a very long time, even on a fast Mac. For all practical purposes, it will appear as if the rebuild "hangs", but it probably hasn't. In fact, it will display a progress bar, and when it reaches the end, may just sit there for 5 - 10 minutes, but it's actually still working. The process takes a long time...imagine, that you have a 4gb file. It needs to read all of the data, and then copy all of the data, and then import all of the data...you're talking about moving around 12gbs in this case. Once the first progress bar disappears, a second progress bar will appear while it is importing and loading the recovered file...again, it can take awhile. I would suggest setting it up and having a nice glass of Cabernet. Refrain from working on your computer during this process.

4 - When the data base has been rebuilt, click on the Entourage icon to re-launch the program. You should see a message stating that the rebuild was complete, and that 2 additional files have been created in your Identities folder in your User > Documents > Microsoft User Data folder. These files will be named Data Base old and Data Base Cache old. (you can delete or save these files if you like later)

5 - Take one more step at this point. Verify that indeed your mail is once again back in action, all of your accounts are configured properly, your address book is intact, then:

6 - Quit Entourage and make a copy of the Identities folder in your User > Documents > Microsoft User Data folder. (Select the folder in the Finder and click Command D) this will duplicate the Identites folder adding "Copy" to the title of the new folder. Move the copy to another location on your hard drive, or external disk, or copy to a CD for safe keeping.

7 - Have another glass of Cabernet

For Detailed instructions, go to

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherpr...d_database.xml


Best of luck.

Blaine

[dianeross]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryanhunt I am using Entourage 2004 and have just experienced something similar. My Database file grew to over 4GB and now causes a full application crash when I try to open it.

You should have received a warning. If you didn’t it’s because you didn’t update the application. Did you try to open Entourage with the shift key down? This will stop any schedules that open at startup. It’s possible a bad email is the source.

Quote: In order to open the application, I must delete all preferences, rename the identity, and create an new identity that is empty; however, I can find no way to import my old stuff into the new DB?

You can’t import from the same version. You should be able to just replace the Microsoft User Data folder.

Quote: I keep nightly backups of my whole home directory via rsync incremental, but have not been able to find a DB that can survive the backup process and restore correctly. So far, I have gone back about 2 weeks and still no luck.

If the problem is in your User’s folder you need to test by creating a new User in System Preferences and try to open your backups there. If this doesn’t work it appears you need to go back further in time.

If you can open Entourage, you can get your data out. In Entourage 2004 you can try to export as an Entourage archive (.rge file). However, I have found that if there is corruption, this will most likely fail.

The next option is to export as MBOX files. Drag each folder (subfolders will have to be dragged individually) to the desktop. These can be dragged into a new Identity so you can start fresh.

Export your contacts as a tab delimited file. This is easily imported into your new Identity. If you use categories, you will need to get Paul Berkowitz’s Export-Import scripts. These scripts will get all of your data over with categories included. There is no built-in way to export notes, tasks, calendar events except through an Entourage archive. You could try to individually export these if the problem is in your emails.
http://scriptbuilders.net/files/expo...age1.3.10.html

See the Entourage Help Clinic for more help. http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/index.html

[jalash]

So i can relate to some of these posts. I recently reached my 4GB limit in Entourage. So I rebuilt the database as it prompted me to do. When I tried to reopen it, it said that "entourage cannot access your data. To attempt to fix the problem, rebuild your database." Of course I tried that and it just did the same thing. I figured that my database is corrupted. So is there any way at all to recover my data? I have backed up quite a bit of it but there is some of it in my inbox that I need to recover. And honestly, I don't need to recover the text in the email as much as the attachments. Any suggestions?