where are the actual messages and attachments

[William Shat]

I lost a HD. I am trying to rescue my Outlook Express 6. (Windows XP
SP2). I found my old INBOX.DBX and copied it to my good HD. I am able
to view my messages. I see I have attachments and I can view them. BUT
-- Where are the actual messages and attachments stored on my drive?

 

[Radenko Zec]

Try C:\Documents and Settings\User Account\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook

I hope this will help.

 

[Mike M]

I lost a HD. I am trying to rescue my Outlook Express 6. (Windows XP
SP2). I found my old INBOX.DBX and copied it to my good HD. I am able
to view my messages. I see I have attachments and I can view them. BUT
-- Where are the actual messages and attachments stored on my drive?

Assuming a single identity:
In the various dbx files, each dbx file representing a folder in OE with a
few others including folders,dbx which contains the folder layout, etc..

Copy the entire folder that contains inbox.dbx on your old PC to a folder
on your new PC and then open OE on the new PC and use File | Import |
Messages .... to import the contents of your old message store into the
new.

 

[William Shat]

Thanks. I have all my mail AND attachments. Where are the actual
attachments stored? I have several large attachments and the DBX files
don't seem large enough to contain all those attachments..

 

[Mike M]

Outlook Express does not differentiate between message text and attachment
with all being stored together in their respective dbx files. There is no
separate attachment store.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Outlook Express does not differentiate between message text and attachment
with all being stored together in their respective dbx files. There is no
separate attachment store.

This is common to most email apps, and is a disadvantage because
malware attachments are hidden from av management etc. and it makes
for far larger mailbox files. Eudora is one email that doesn't do
this; instead, attachments are stored elsewhere as manageable files.

The odd thing is, I find the size (and disk space used) by Eudora for
email mailboxes + loose attachments is typically less than what OE
uses for an integration of both, even when OE's mailboxes are
compacted to reclaim space.

So your mileage - that the mailboxes are too small to account for all
your attachments - is unexpected, as I don't think OE's storage method
applies any compression at all. Hidden files, maybe?

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