Restoring Ootlook Expesss data

[Trevor L.]

This may not be an XP question as such.

When I started my PC today, I found that some folders were missing from OE6.
I don't know how this happened. I suppose in a moment of inattention, I hit
delete for a folder instead of for a file.

These are folders that hold a lot of important stuff, particularly info.
from these newsgroups that I filed for future reference.

Is there any way I can restore these folders? I tried system restore, going
back as far as I could - 2 days ago, when I am sure that they were there.
But no luck.

I had an idea that the OE data was in C:\Documents and
Settings\Trevor\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594}
where Trevor is my username and the ID in {} is unique for each identity. I
checked this and it is completely empty. I have done some compacting of the
OE data in the last couple of days, but I thought that restore would
overwrite this with earlier data.

Can anyone help?

 

[Brian A.]

If they are not in the deleted folder and restore doesn't help, they may not
be recoverable if you keep using the machine. You may need a third party app
that works from a separate drive or other expert $$ help to retrieve them. This
may be best asked in an OE ng.
The actual path you want is:
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\Microsoft\Outlook Express\

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Trevor L.]

Brian,
I have found the files in
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

Here is a listing of the ones I want to restore
Contents of C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\
At 02/12/05 7:46:56 PM
AudioVideo.dbx 136.10 KB
Blogs.dbx 136.10 KB
Browser Sniffers.dbx 136.10 KB
browser windows.dbx 136.10 KB
Datetime functions.dbx 136.10 KB
Firefox.dbx 136.10 KB
Fonts.dbx 136.10 KB
Frameless Site.dbx 136.10 KB
Frames.dbx 200.10 KB
Hosting.dbx 136.10 KB
HTMLCSSJscript.dbx 58.70 KB
Menus.dbx 136.10 KB
Newsgroup Info.dbx 58.70 KB
NewsLetters (1).dbx 74.70 KB
Newsletters.dbx 58.70 KB
Positioning.dbx 136.10 KB
Printing.dbx 136.10 KB
RegExp.dbx 136.10 KB
RSS feeds.dbx 136.10 KB
Windows XP.dbx 250.70 KB

I have opened some of them with Ultraedit (a hex editor) and the data that I
have lost is present, although not in Email format, of course

I copied the contents of the above folder (C:\Documents and
Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\...\Microsoft\Outlook Express\) to a temp
folder and then tried to restore using Outlook Express Freebie Backup, but I
was told that I was overwriting existing data. When I opened OE, the lost
data was still missing.

What do I have to do?

 

[Brian A.]

See if this helps. Look under Multiple Folders:
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/backup/partial.htm

Another way would be to use a third party app such as OEView to open/view/save
your messages to a new folder that has within it new folders of the same name as
your missing ones. You can then either keep your retrieved/saved messages there
or follow the procedure below to copy your folders into OE.

http://www.mitec.cz/

On the top menu bar point to Apps and Tools, click Misc > OE Viewer.

If no Joy, try only after making sure you have a backup of the Identity store
you want folders from and the one used by OE now. Attempt one folder first to
make sure all goes well.

Open Outlook Express, click on tools > Options > Maintenance tab > Store Folder
button. Note where the folders are stored.
Close Outlook Express.
Open Explorer and copy the .dbx files that you want to import over to the folder
that you noted. Make sure the folder you copied over does not have the same name
as any other .dbx file in the folder you copied to.
In the folder that you noted, rename the Folders.dbx file to Folders.old. A new
Folders.dbx will be created with all your old and new folders when you reopen
Outlook Express.
Start Outlook Express.
In the Folders pane, you see the .dbx file that you copied. You can drag items
to their appropriate locations, or rename the folder.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Trevor L.]

Brian,
I am getting confused.

I sent a reply saying that I got my folders back when I deleted folders.dbx
but this message doesn't appear on the newsgroup ???

Now I find that a folder (Layer positioning) which was restored by deleting
folders.dbx appears in Outlook Express but not on:
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

There is also a file (positioning.dbx) in C:\Documents and
Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594} which doesn't appear
in OE. I opened this file using OE Viewer and I found it has the same
contents. (That is positioning.dbx has the same contents as "Layer
positoning" in OE)

Perhaps at some stage I renamed the folder, but:
How can two folders with the same contents have different names ?

There are also .dbx files with different names, e.g. suffixed with (1) , (2)
which are not the names on OE.
I also found an empty folder in OE which doesn't have a corresponding .dbx
file . Is this to be expected ?
Another point is that renaming a folder in OE is not reflected in the .dbx
store

When do the two stores align?
If I take a backup of the .dbx store, wil a restoration give the details on
the .dbx store or that on OE. ?

 

[Brian A.]

Brian,
I am getting confused.

I sent a reply saying that I got my folders back when I deleted folders.dbx
but this message doesn't appear on the newsgroup ???

I don't see it either.

Now I find that a folder (Layer positioning) which was restored by deleting
folders.dbx appears in Outlook Express but not on:
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

There is also a file (positioning.dbx) in C:\Documents and
Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{83FDBF62-3205-46F3-BAE6-6D4B94BB0594} which doesn't appear in
OE. I opened this file using OE Viewer and I found it has the same contents.
(That is positioning.dbx has the same contents as "Layer positoning" in OE)

In Explorer rename positioning.dbx to positioning.db_. Exit Explorer and open
OE.
What are the results?

Perhaps at some stage I renamed the folder, but:
How can two folders with the same contents have different names ?

Easy, it's no different than any other folders. You can have multiple folders
with the same name and same content as long as they are not in the same
directory. You can have multiple folders with different names anywhere that
contain the same content. As long as the path or name are different, it doesn't
matter what's in the folder.

There are also .dbx files with different names, e.g. suffixed with (1) , (2)
which are not the names on OE.

Where do you see this, in the original Identity folder or one you copied
folders/files to?

I also found an empty folder in OE which doesn't have a corresponding .dbx
file . Is this to be expected ?

Not that I'm aware of.

Another point is that renaming a folder in OE is not reflected in the .dbx
store

Ok, now I'm beginning to think either your store got corrupted or you
mis-stepped in the copy.

When do the two stores align?

If you only have one Identity, I believe there should only be one.

If I take a backup of the .dbx store, wil a restoration give the details on
the .dbx store or that on OE. ?

A backup/restore using what?


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Brian A.]

Let's start afresh.

If you still have the .dbx files you copied to the temp folder:
Make sure OE/IE are closed.
Open Explorer
If that temp folder is not on the desktop, navigate to it and move it there now.
Create another temp (not named temp) folder on the desktop as well.
Expand the tree to C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Temp and
delete all contents in the right pane. If any are in use you will not be able
to delete them. If any do not delete, close Explorer, reboot and try to delete
them again. If they still won't delete they're being used and not a concern to
continue.
Expand the tree to C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local
Settings\...\Microsoft\Outlook Express\
Copy all relevant .dbx files over to that original temp folder that are not
already present in that original temp folder.
Move all of the unrelated leftover files to the second created temp folder.
Copy all of the .dbx files from the original temp folder to your identity at
C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\...\Microsoft\Outlook Express\
Rename the folders.dbx to folders.old.

Close out of Explorer and open OE.

Are all of the folders and messages present?


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Trevor L.]

Brian,
Still struggling

Some replies in-line. I will look at your later response after I reply to
this one

I don't see it either.

I think it may not have been sent. We had a power failure here in Canberra
during a very bad thunderstorm. Maybe I thought I sent it when the power
came back but actually didn't - the power failed about 4 times in 2 hours