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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Microsoft User Data

sam825 - Sep 15, 2005 - 4:01 pm

I lost the hard drive on my computer a bit ago. Everything was backed up or recovered but the Microsoft user data file. I have it but it is corrupt. It has some info I need. Is there a way that this file can be repaired so that I can get to my entourage files?

dzurn - Sep 15, 2005 - 10:01 pm

I found a possible solution to this type of problem,
from http://www.entourage.mvps.org/database/corrupt.html.

Hope this help.

Darryl Z
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Corrupt Database

Corrupt Entourage X database and Entourage 2004 Database Utility:

Are you having trouble importing your database into Entourage 2004?

If Entourage 2004 will import a corrupted Entourage X identity, you can try the Database Utility to rebuild, but it's not guaranteed that it will succeed. There are no absolutes with corrupted databases.

If you cannot import the Entourage X identity, there is nothing you can do but revert to a backup copy of your database.

Did you import, but keep getting warnings from the database utiltity that the database needs rebuilding, but you can't rebuild?

IF rebuilding your database does not work, and....

You can open Entourage...
* Drag each mailbox to the desktop. See for further details.
* Use Paul Berkowitz's scripts, Export-Import Entourage
to export everything.
* Drag mailbox files into new identity
* Import using scripts Export-Import Entourage
* Rebuild the DB
Note: Entourage 2004 will export: (note in severe cases of corruption you may not be able to export)
Mail
Contacts
Calendar events
Tasks
Notes
More details see http://www.entourage.mvps.org/backup.html#bk4


IF You cannot open your database, you can try EntourAid.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14148
EntourAid _attempts_ to recover emails in any corrupted Microsoft Outlook Express/Entourage email database that is reported to be corrupted and irrecoverable.

-------------------------------------
Not for the faint of heart....
If your database is totally unusable: You can open the messages file in BBEdit (see tips below)or other text editor. It's possible to save almost all of it. You'll have the text and the headers to show you who it was from, when, etc.

One user passed along these tips on using BBEdit to recover his mail.

I spent several hours over the weekend constructing a really big MBOX file from an orphaned Messages file. To do this, you need a copy of BBEdit Lite and you need to know how to use GREP. Don't forget to operate on a copy of the file, and do some cursory finds before Replace All.

First, look for patterns like:
[^\received: from .*\r
[^\t].*\rReceived: from .*\r

And replace with:
From ^^^@^^^\r

You’ll need to account for messages that don’t start with Received, so
repeat with "[^\r]From: .*\r", "[^\r]Return Path: .*\r", ...

Also, you want to get rid of the garbage (which is the database info)
between messages, so search for things like:
\r\r\r\r\r
^\**\r
^[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]?

Now, skim the file looking for other garbage to clean up.

Then, save out as a text file and do a File:Import:text file:MBOX.

Now, set up a custom view and look for the text "Received: from" in the message body. You probably missed some messages. Drag this view to the desktop to create an MBOX file, open it in BBEdit Lite, clean it up, delete all the messages in the custom view, and import the newly cleaned MBOX file back into Entourage. Rinse and repeat.

It’s a long, tedious process, but it worked for me. YMMV.

sam825 - Sep 16, 2005 - 7:18 am

Thanks Darryl

I'll give these suggestions a try. I really appreciate the help.

Cheryl

sam825 - Sep 18, 2005 - 3:54 pm

Darryl

Entouraid worked well (it didn't recover everything but way more than I expected). Thanks so much for your advice!

Cheryl