iCal - inconsistent data - cured it!

Recently I migrated two users to new systems as follows

User1 = iMac G4 OS 10.4.11 --------> Mac Pro (early 2008) OS 10.5.1

User2 = PowerBook G4 OS 10.4.11 ---> MacBook OS 10.5.1

Everything worked correctly except User2 could not synchronize iCal with User1 via .Mac. The persistent error message at the end of each sync attempt was

*Calendars could not be synced due to inconsistent data.*
*Confirm that your computer's data is valid, then reset Calendars on .Mac in System Preferences.*

I followed the steps in

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307052

but no joy. Note that neither user's calendar contains groups.

Here are the steps that worked. This may be overkill, but at least now I have all 16 calendars in iCal synching in both directions again.

I considered User1 to have the "gold" version of iCal data. But even though User1 could sync with .Mac there must have been something corrupt on the User1 side (I went through a lot of debug steps on the User2 side to reach this conclusion...)

So the goal was to reconstruct a clean version of iCal data on User1 and push it through .Mac to User2.

As always, make sure you have a reliable backup before poking around deleting files and folders!

1. User1

Open iCal
In the menu bar choose File -> Backup iCal...
You will want this for File -> Restore iCal... if all else fails

In iCal, in the section named Calendars, select a calendar
In the menu bar choose File -> Export...
Save the file in a convenient folder
Repeat for each calendar in your list
Quit iCal

2. User1

Open iSync
In the menu bar choose iSync -> Preferences...
At the bottom, under Advanced, click the Reset Sync History... button
Confirm you want to do this
Quit iSync

Quit all applications
Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Deselect every item
Deselect "Synchronize with .Mac"
Click the Advanced... button
Select User1 in the list
Click the Unregister button
Click the Done button

Navigate to the folder ~User2/Library/Calendars
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/iCal
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/iSync
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/iCal
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/SyncService
Delete the contents

Navigate to ~User2/Library/Application Support/SyncServices
Delete the contents

3. User2

Repeat each of the steps in the previous section '2'

At this point you now have default data in iCal on User1 and User2. You can see this by opening iCal on either machine. There will be two empty calendars named Home and Work. Quit iCal again before proceeding.

4. User1

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Select "Synchronize with .Mac"
Set the drop-down menu to "Manually"
Select "Calendars"
Select "Show status in menu bar"
Click the Advanced... button
Click the Reset Sync Data... button
In the drop-down menu select "Calendars"
Click on the arrow pointing to the right so that the sentence reads "On .Mac sync info from this computer."
Click the Replace button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating, especially up in the main menu bar

5. User2

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Select "Synchronize with .Mac"
Set the drop-down menu to "Manually"
Select "Calendars"
Select "Show status in menu bar"
Click the Sync Now button
Respond to the dialogue by clicking the More Options button
In the drop-down select "Calendar - Replace data on computer"
Click the Sync button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating, especially up in the main menu bar

At this point, if you still have the "inconsistent data" problem you will get that error message. Swear or whatever helps, restore your calendar as in section '1', and wait for progress from Apple...

But if the sync succeeds then you are half way through the tunnel!

6. User1

Open iCal

In the menu bar choose File -> Export...
Select "Import an iCal file"
Click the Import button
Select one of the .ics files you previously exported
Click the Import button
In the drop-down menu select "New Calendar" (if your calendar is named Home or Work just select the appropriate default)
Click the OK button
Repeat for each calendar you exported

(If you are not using the default Home and Work calendars, select each and use Edit -> Delete to remove them)

Rearrange the order of calendars to suit your tastes
Quit iCal

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Click the Sync Now button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating

7. User2

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Click the Sync Now button
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating

Depending on how your preferences are set in iSync, you may get a dialogue box warning you that more than 5% (or 10%, or...) of your data on this computer is about to be changed. Allow this to happen and proceed.

Open iCal

If all has gone well you should now see everything identical with User1. Do the happy dance or whatever feels good, then get ready to reinstate the other sync selections.

Quit iCal

8. User1

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Select Bookmarks or Contacts or ...

I selected only one at a time in order to keep maximum control while debugging, but you can probably reselect all of your previous categories at once to avoid time spent iterating.

Click the Sync Now button
Respond to any dialogues by indicating you want to use data from this computer
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating -- could take awhile depending on your selections and internet connection

9. User2

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Click the Sync Now button
Respond to any dialogues by indicating you want to use data from .Mac
Wait for the sync indicators to stop gyrating

Depending on how your preferences are set in iSync, you may get a dialogue box warning you that more than 5% (or 10%, or...) of your data on this computer is about to be changed. Allow this to happen and proceed.

Open appropriate applications to confirm that data has synced as expected.

10. User1

Open .Mac in System Preferences
Select the Sync tab
Adjust the drop down from Manually to whatever frequency you desire

11. User2

Ditto

That's it. For experienced users that was way too much detail, but I know others like "the recipe".

Cheers -sailhome