Re: Entourage 2008 lost 11 days of information

[William Smith [MVP]]

Ric...@officeformac.com wrote:

> Suddenly last night, all information subsequent to November 12 was gone.
> E-mails, calendar entries, whatever. I figured, no big deal, I'll just
> copy a backup from yesterday before the problem occured, however, they
> ALL contain the same information; only through November 12. I tried
> changing the alias to the different backups, but same results.

Two questions for you:

1. Are you allowing SuperDuper to copy your Entourage Database file
while Entourage is running?

2. When was the last time you quit and restarted Entourage? Do you leave
it running all the time or do you shut it down periodically?

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
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[Ric...@officeformac.com]

> Ric...@officeformac.com wrote:
>
> > Suddenly last night, all information subsequent to November 12 was gone.
> > E-mails, calendar entries, whatever. I figured, no big deal, I'll just
> > copy a backup from yesterday before the problem occured, however, they
> > ALL contain the same information; only through November 12. I tried
> > changing the alias to the different backups, but same results.
>
> Two questions for you:
>
> 1. Are you allowing SuperDuper to copy your Entourage Database file
> while Entourage is running?

No, I don't run Entourage while SuperDuper is copying.

>
> 2. When was the last time you quit and restarted Entourage? Do you leave
> it running all the time or do you shut it down periodically?

I shut down Entourage at least every day, and usually more often, if not using it.

>
> --
>

> bill
>
> Entourage Help Page

> Entourage Help Blog
> YouTalk
> Twitter: follow

Thanks for your reply. The answers follow your questions.

Rich
>

[Ric...@officeformac.com]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel Email Client: pop My setup has the folder "Office 2008 Identities" on an external HD and an alias pointing to that location (without the "alias" extension) in "Microsoft User Data". This allows me to use the same Entourage data on two different Mac's at two locations. I also automatically clone the real Identities folder 5 times a day to a different external HD using SuperDuper. The SuperDuper schedule shows the actions were all successful when they were supposed to take place. I've successfully used this setup for about a year.

Suddenly last night, all information subsequent to November 12 was gone. E-mails, calendar entries, whatever. I figured, no big deal, I'll just copy a backup from yesterday before the problem occured, however, they ALL contain the same information; only through November 12. I tried changing the alias to the different backups, but same results.

Does anyone know if there is another file which is controlling what I see, and maybe all the information is really there? It seems strange that the backups would have a successful time and date of yesterday, yet don't contain any different information. What would cause the original file to lose 11 days of data?

Any help would be tremendously appreciated.

[William Smith [MVP]]

Ric...@officeformac.com wrote:

>> Two questions for you:
>>
>> 1. Are you allowing SuperDuper to copy your Entourage Database file
>> while Entourage is running?
>
> No, I don't run Entourage while SuperDuper is copying.
>>
>> 2. When was the last time you quit and restarted Entourage? Do you leave
>> it running all the time or do you shut it down periodically?
>
> I shut down Entourage at least every day, and usually more often, if not
> using it.

Well, those answers shoot down my theories.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>

[alc...@officeformac.com]

Hi Rich,

What kind of e-mail setup do you have going? Exchange, IMAP?

Also, what is your data looking like right now? Do you just have a big gap between November 12 and the 23rd, with everything after the 23rd intact? Or are you still experience data loss?

Thanks,
Alex

[Ric...@officeformac.com]

Hi Alex,

I am not on Exchange as I use a stand-alone system for a home-based business. My e-mail setup is POP.

The data was missing everything from 11/12-11/23. Everything else is complete. Not trusting Entourage, I did not have it delete incoming e-mails from my ISP's server when downloaded to Entourage so have been able to re-download e-mails sent to me.

Yesterday, I uninstalled Office 2008 from my system and it found 3 instances of the program. Have no idea how that happened since I only installed it once from the original disk; no trial versions. Anyway, after re-installation, I found one of my backups had the missing days of sent e-mails and so was able to recover those. Still not comfortable that I got everything, but it seems like I got the ones that I remember as being important.

Its strange that before the uninstall/reinstall, I couldn't find any of the missing information on any of the backups, and now it reappears on one. This whole experience leaves me more than a bit leery of the stability of this suite, especially, when no one seems to have an idea of what went wrong and how to recover. I thought I was more than prudent in running 5 backups throughout the day, but evidently, 4 of those backups didn't do the job.

Thank you for your interest and reply. If you can explain what happened, I'd certainly be lot more comfortable.

Rich