Mac OS X 10.1: Entourage Email Messages Lost After Force Restart of Computer

Symptom

After either a force restart of your computer or a kernel panic, you may see that:

• Email messages are missing from Entourage.
• Other data, such as contacts, are missing.
• The email database file has been reduced to 4096 bytes.

Solution

This specific set of symptoms does not occur in Mac OS X 10.2 or later. In Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.1.5, the issue can occur if Entourage is open at the time of a forced restart. The file system may then record an invalid size for the Entourage database, effectively abbreviating the file. These are example scenarios:

• The computer experiences a kernel panic while you are using Entourage, and you must force restart the computer.
• Entourage becomes unresponsive, displaying the spinning disc pointer, and you follow up by force restarting the computer.
• You force restart the computer after it will not wake from sleep, and Entourage had been open before sleep.
• The computer experiences a power loss while using Entourage, or is force restarted for another reason.

Notes

1. New features in Mac OS X 10.2 prevent the specific set of symptoms described above, as characterized by the reduction of the mail database to 4096 bytes. Typical data loss, such as loss of unsaved changes to a single document during a force restart, may still occur in any application. Minimize this type of loss by saving your work often.

2. Mac OS X 10.2 or later resolves the potential data loss issue. You should always update to the latest version of Mac OS X for the best Entourage performance. See technical document 106704, "Mac OS X: How to Update Your Software".

3. For help identifying a kernel panic, see technical document 106227, "Mac OS X: What is a Kernel Panic?"

Information about products not manufactured by Apple is provided for information purposes only, and does not constitute Apple's recommendation or endorsement. Please contact the vendor for additional information.

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