Question

Hi again -

Returning again to this same MBOX file that gave us problems a few months ago. Importing it into ePADD 3.0.1 returns the same message (line 2416 of the attached log) during the import step. We've now hit this error on the same MBOX import on two different machines running two different versions of the application (1.x last summer; 3.0.1 currently). Any insight into why this may be happening would be appreciated.

We use Emailchemy to create MBOX files from PST originals. Files created using this method for other PSTs in this collection (same creating office) have imported as expected. This problematic MBOX import is ~750 MB in size.

thanks,
farrell

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epadd-error-log_4-17_no2.txt

Answer 1

We recently encountered issues with emailchemy: message missing and improper format after migration.
Could you try Aid4Mail?

Comments

Hi Peter -

While not opposed to running through a different migration application, I do have a few followup questions.

1) Does the error message "code:null message:null type: null" mean "message missing" from the MBOX or "improper format" of the MBOX? How would I reach this conclusion in the future without pinging the forum?

2) Are the error codes reported in the debug log documented somewhere public?

3) I assumed line 2416 of that log file was the error message to notice, but have to confess I'm not entirely sure that's the best/only line to refer to in reading through the log. Does the ePADD team plan to document troubleshooting (particularly with respect to understanding the log files)?

4) Is there some feature comparison and/or justification documentation for why Aid4Mail was chosen as a migration tool (or why Emailchemy was chosen, if it has been creating MBOX files that have been throwing errors in ePADD)? While neither Emailchemy nor Aid4Mail are hugely expensive pieces of software, "the ePADD team told me to use this" isn't always going to work with our IT department or business managers as justification.

5) Does Aid4Mail consistently migrate PST files better than Emailchemy in your experience? This forum previously recommended Emailchemy for this purpose.

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1. Error messages are not as specific as we like. We would like to improve the error log and associated documentation. However, we would give priority to adding functionalities.
2. ePADD development team don't have the resources to do everything we would like to do. We would like the community to contribute and add knowledge to the field. This is one of the reasons why we have this forum. We have not done any elaborate comparison among migration tools. Please help to do that!!!

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Hi Farrell,

We really appreciate your providing us with all of the feedback and suggestions! As Peter mentioned, we're trying to make error messages as specific as possible, and error codes/logs more readily accessible to users. It's clear we still have work to do.

Re: Aid4Mail vs. Emailchemy vs. other migration software, we have had mixed experiences, which explains the shifting advice. As you know, there are many complicating factors, including email archive details that can be forgotten by the creator or are otherwise unknown to the archivist, and these can affect the effectiveness of particular migration software. We have seen the effort to systematically document these differences as fairly complicated... definitely worthwhile, but out of necessity outside the scope of our project at this time due to limited development team resources. (Of course, the lack of a consistent migration experience also affects our ability to troubleshoot user logs, since it is not always clear to the user or to us at which point an error was introduced).

I do think it would be worth banding together as a community to attempt to document these experiences as well as we can, and appreciate the suggestion. We recommend using these forums as a place to share particular migration experiences. We'll also keep the idea on our agenda for more direct future community action.

In any case your point is well taken, and we will be sure to provide more measured advice in terms of third-party migration software in the future.

Thanks again!

Josh