I have an old file from 2018 used for v7 named dbrepairrebuildall.exe Can I use that for v8? I was surprised I couldn’t find any database repair exe files in the EM Client prog files like there was in v7. Did I miss something?
The reason I ask is because I think the database may be corrupt, because with EM Client closed I can’t backup my database completely. The largest file - mail_data.dat in the Archive folder won’t copy. I have tried several times only to get an error message it can’t be copied. This message pops up after several minutes of copying. Because of this I thought I need to run the database repair.
Another option is I do have a backup of that exact file, date, and size from several days ago. I’ve made no changes to my archive folder in EM Client since 1/21/21 which is the date of my backup file. I could manually replace the bad file with that one while EM Client is closed if that would be a better solution.
The database repair is now built into the MailClient.exe file. If it detects an issue with the database, it will repair it automatically. But if you think you need to repair the database, you can run this command with eM Client closed: "C:\Program Files (x86)\eM Client\MailClient.exe" /dbrepair
To backup eM Client, use the built-in function which you will find by going to Menu > Backup. This does more than just copy files to a zip file. It also checks your database and writes wal data back to the original dat files. You cannot do that manually, so just use the backup function.
You cannot replace single files from one backup to another. They are not individually useful as they are part of a group of files that make up the database. You will just end up with a useless zip file that probably cannot be restored.
Every night, I close EM Client and run my backup system, which backs-up my database. At times I had to use that backup database and it works fine, even on a different computer. I assume v8 works the same.
I’ll try your DB check and if that doesn’t fix the file, I can always try the internal backup in EM Client and then restore that backup to see if any of those methods will fix the file that can’t be copied.
Is v8 the same as v7 in that I can copy any files when EM Client is closed?
I have quite a few copies of my database from v7 and v8, plus all the exported EML files and settings, so I thought I’d take a chance and try and simply replace that archive file named mail_data.dat with a file with the exact same name, date of 1/21/21, same size. it worked.
I was a little concerned as you rightly are of doing this sort of thing, but in this instance it worked and it was quicker and easier than the alternatives. thanks for the very useful info on manually doing a database repair