Troubleshooting: Crash when Rebuilding a Database
If the most recent backup seems to be incomplete, try the second most recent one. If the second most recent Backup folder contains essentially all of your files and you wish to use "Tools > Restore Backup", delete the incomplete backup folder by doing the following:
1. Control-click the .dtBase database package in the Finder and choose "Show Package Contents".
2. Navigate to the Backups folder and delete the incomplete backup
First, however, with DEVONthink Pro opening an empty database, you might try "Tools > Restore Backup" to see what the contents of the incomplete backup may be. Perhaps it contains some files. If so, create a new folder in the Finder and export those files to that folder (use "File > Export > Files and Folders"). Those files may come in handy.
Now go the the Finder and see if you can find the folders that DEVONthink may have temporarily stored in the Finder during the rebuild operation. There's a possibility that DEVONthink had exported the complete contents of your database, and crashed only while reimporting them. Tip: In the Finder, do a search for the name of one or more of your groups, or for a file name that you remember was contained in the DEVONthink database. If you find this material, and it looks complete, import it into a new database, perhaps just one major group folder at a time. You may succeed in manually completing the rebuild operation and end up with a complete and up to date database.
Otherwise, in the Backups folder of your defective database, remove (perhaps to the Desktop) the incomplete backup folder (see above) and the oldest backup folder. Now do a "Tools > Restore Backup" to restore your database to its contents as of that backup date. Unfortunately, you will have lost any files added after that backup was done. (This is a great argument for frequent backups.)