"Copying" window during compacting OE6 folders

B

- Bobb -

For a week now I thought I had a folders issue, but today it seems
related to the size of the specific dbx file. I've got 3 dbx files
bigger than 19mb and while 'compacting all folders' I see a " Copying"
window appear then disappear. My Sent and Inbox are 30+mb so they passed
19mb long ago , so I'm thinking that it's related to a recent XP
"windowsupdate" as opposed to folder corruption ( which I feared. I do
have a few backups of my Data Store Folder, since a corrupt folders.dbx
file burnt me years ago and I had to rebuild the nested structures.)

After compaction , everything is OK, but wondering ... why seeing it
now ? Is this a bug or just that a recent update has it now "make a
copy of the folder bigger than 19mb" before compacting a folder ? I'm
asking since 19mb seems like a strange number - or maybe it's related to
the NUMBER of messages contained and not the folder size ? Is it a
problem - should I delete a bunch of the messages ? Is it # of msgs or
the biggest messages I should delete ?

Thanks for any pointers
 
A

Alias

- Bobb - said:
For a week now I thought I had a folders issue, but today it seems
related to the size of the specific dbx file. I've got 3 dbx files
bigger than 19mb and while 'compacting all folders' I see a " Copying"
window appear then disappear. My Sent and Inbox are 30+mb so they passed
19mb long ago , so I'm thinking that it's related to a recent XP
"windowsupdate" as opposed to folder corruption ( which I feared. I do
have a few backups of my Data Store Folder, since a corrupt folders.dbx
file burnt me years ago and I had to rebuild the nested structures.)

After compaction , everything is OK, but wondering ... why seeing it
now ? Is this a bug or just that a recent update has it now "make a
copy of the folder bigger than 19mb" before compacting a folder ? I'm
asking since 19mb seems like a strange number - or maybe it's related to
the NUMBER of messages contained and not the folder size ? Is it a
problem - should I delete a bunch of the messages ? Is it # of msgs or
the biggest messages I should delete ?

Thanks for any pointers
Click to expand...

It's an update for Outlook Express. If you look in the recycle bin, you
will see a bunch of .bak files, which are back ups for your messages.

That said, do not store messages in any of the default folders such as
Inbox or Sent Items. Create new folders for storage.

Alias
 
G

Gerry Cornell

Thanks Alias for adding to my knowledge on this latest change. Given
the size of dbx files it emphasises the need to empty the recycle bin
after compacting and defragment.
--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
B

- Bobb -

http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?p=135065
That had it exactly - thanks very much.
Do you folks get a "Copying box" for each folder or only on "big ones"
?
I get it only on those 3 .

PS re the auto-compact every 100 times ... several times I have done
"compact all folders" manually and when I exited , or later that day,
was prompted with the prompt to "autocompact ?". So, in spite of what
the article said, I can tell you from experience (XP SP2 - up to date
with updates) that the counter must not get reset immediately -
otherwise that would not have happened to me - several times. Maybe it's
at shutdown time ???

Thanks again - at least now I know it's not just me.
Bobb
 
M

Michael Santovec

I don't always see the copying message. It might be based on how long
the copying is taking or expected to take as to whether or not it is
displayed.

When was the last time you got the compact prompt after recently doing a
manual compact? The change to reset the counter on a compact all
folders is new.
 
P

PA Bear

- Bobb - said:
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?p=135065
That had it exactly - thanks very much.
YW.

Do you folks get a "Copying box" for each folder or only on "big ones"?
I get it only on those 3.
Click to expand...

The number of Copying boxes one seex appears to depend on the overall size
of your message store. I'm pretty sure I've seen more than 3 on several
occasions.
PS re the auto-compact every 100 times ... several times I have done
"compact all folders" manually and when I exited , or later that day,
was prompted with the prompt to "autocompact ?". So, in spite of what
the article said, I can tell you from experience (XP SP2 - up to date
with updates) that the counter must not get reset immediately -
otherwise that would not have happened to me - several times. Maybe it's
at shutdown time ???
Click to expand...

When did you install 923694? Have you seen the autocompact prompt since (1)
installing 923694 and (2) after having compacted manually at least once?
 
G

Gerry Cornell

Bear

The time taken by each copying flash on my machine is variable. I
think I get more than 3, probably because my newsgroup folders are
large containing all bodies and up to 6 weeks messages.

Bob

You need to use Compact All to reset the counter. I am not sure about
shutting down but my computer is not left on overnight.

--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
F

Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM

- Bobb - said:
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?p=135065
That had it exactly - thanks very much.
Do you folks get a "Copying box" for each folder or only on "big ones" ?
I get it only on those 3 .

PS re the auto-compact every 100 times ... several times I have done
"compact all folders" manually and when I exited , or later that day, was
prompted with the prompt to "autocompact ?". So, in spite of what the
article said, I can tell you from experience (XP SP2 - up to date with
updates) that the counter must not get reset immediately - otherwise that
would not have happened to me - several times. Maybe it's at shutdown time
???
Click to expand...


Until the latest update OE did not reset the counter when you did a manual
compact. Now it does.
 
G

Geoff

This appears to be something new. I have only seen it recently.
I believe that all folders are copied but only the larger ones show in a
dialog box because it takes longer to copy them.
The other reason I am sure it is new, is that when I looked in my recycle
bin there were deleted copies of every OE folder.
Actually 3 copies of each folder. I had compacted all folders 3 times over
a 24hr period due to a cleanup I was doing.

The system must now make a copy prior to compacting, as a fallback in case
compacting is interrupted and a folder is corrupted. (My theory)

Geoff
 
G

Gary S. Terhune

Exactly as you surmise, and due to a new Update that was heavily promoted by
MVPs. Too easy to screw up folders during Compact. This creates a backup.
Means you have to definitely pay attention to Recycle Bin maintenance if you
do a lot of Compacting, though. My advice -- Review and empty the RB
*before* a Compact operation. Leave the backups there until next Compact.
Makes a neat schedule for RB maintenance, assuming you don't go on a file
deletion, disk cleanup binge, <s>. If you do, I'd do it just before a
Compact operation. And regularly Compact All folders manually, don't wait
for the automatic Compact All that occurs after 100 closings of OE.

--

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm
 
A

Alias

Gary said:
Exactly as you surmise, and due to a new Update that was heavily promoted by
MVPs. Too easy to screw up folders during Compact. This creates a backup.
Means you have to definitely pay attention to Recycle Bin maintenance if you
do a lot of Compacting, though. My advice -- Review and empty the RB
*before* a Compact operation. Leave the backups there until next Compact.
Makes a neat schedule for RB maintenance, assuming you don't go on a file
deletion, disk cleanup binge, <s>. If you do, I'd do it just before a
Compact operation. And regularly Compact All folders manually, don't wait
for the automatic Compact All that occurs after 100 closings of OE.
Click to expand...

I back my OE to a different partition up before I compact.

Alias
 
G

Gerry Cornell

Did you use to take an apple to school for teacher <G>?


--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
A

Alias

Gerry said:
Did you use to take an apple to school for teacher <G>?
Click to expand...

Actually, that reminds me of when there was a very disagreeable teacher
in school that everyone hated. She used to bring her lunch in a brown
paper bag. One day, when I was out on the school grounds, an enormous
rat came sidling by (I was in Washington, D.C. at the time) and, by mere
knee jerk reaction, I kicked it in the head and killed it. I then found
a brown paper sack ...

Alias
 
S

Steve Cochran

Well, you don't need to do that now. The files will first go to the Recycle
Bin and then you can restore them if needed.

Backing up to another hard drive would be a good thing, when backing up.

steve
 
A

Alias

Steve said:
Well, you don't need to do that now. The files will first go to the
Recycle Bin and then you can restore them if needed.
Click to expand...

I find the Freebie Back Up program to be more user friendly.
Backing up to another hard drive would be a good thing, when backing up.

steve
Click to expand...

I also back it up to an external USB hard drive. OE is used for my
business, so I figure over kill is appropriate. I also back it up to
another, back up computer every month.

Alias
 

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