DESPERATE re. Importing from External Storage Device ...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sharon
  • Start date Start date
S

Sharon

Dear Outlook Gurus,

Please HELP. My portable PC was about to die and so I
copied all the important folders to my USB storage pen
device. I was panicked so, rather than make an Export
from Outlook I just copied the folders along with all my
other data folders.

I have now purchased a new PC and copied everything over.
EXCEPT I simply cannot get my most recent emails. I used
the Outlook Import facility and it seemed to work OK.
However, I have nothing for 2003 and 2004. What I do get
is all the much older mails and folders, most of which I
am *sure* that I deleted a while back.

When I look at my USB storage device I can see all the
folders that don't import. They all have .dbx file
extensions, they all have significant file sizes
indicating content. When I open any of them using WordPad
I can see (after all the code) the text of the emails
within those folders. But ... I really want to have my
Outlook structure the way it was before. HOW
 
..dbx files are from Outlook Express, not Outlook. Did you export or copy
your .pst file (Outlook's data file)? If not, and you no longer have access
to the old computer, then your data is lost.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Sharon asked:

| Dear Outlook Gurus,
|
| Please HELP. My portable PC was about to die and so I
| copied all the important folders to my USB storage pen
| device. I was panicked so, rather than make an Export
| from Outlook I just copied the folders along with all my
| other data folders.
|
| I have now purchased a new PC and copied everything over.
| EXCEPT I simply cannot get my most recent emails. I used
| the Outlook Import facility and it seemed to work OK.
| However, I have nothing for 2003 and 2004. What I do get
| is all the much older mails and folders, most of which I
| am *sure* that I deleted a while back.
|
| When I look at my USB storage device I can see all the
| folders that don't import. They all have .dbx file
| extensions, they all have significant file sizes
| indicating content. When I open any of them using WordPad
| I can see (after all the code) the text of the emails
| within those folders. But ... I really want to have my
| Outlook structure the way it was before. HOW
 
Hello Milly,

Sorry, I should have specified. My original email was
Outlook Express. When I got my new computer I tried to
copy the folders and mails to Outlook (I now have Office
XP). When it didn't work I tried Outlook Express (both
versions were present on my new PC). It was the same
problem (got all the old folders/mails and none of the
recent ones). I didn't use the export facility (more fool
me) but I simply dragged the Outlook folder from my old
PC to the USB storage device (Parent folder called
Outlook Express, with two sub-folders called Mail and
News).

I do not have access to my old PC, it died shortly after
I had finished the copying. I can't see how I've lost all
of my data though if I can still read it through Notepad.
I guess what you are saying then, is that there's no way
I can get it back into the Outlook folder structure?
That's grim news. My own fault I suppose for not
exporting properly but it was panic stations!

Thanks for your response.

Best regards, Sharon
 
Okay, now I'm confused. Did you copy your .dbx files from the old computer?
If yes, you need to open them in Outlook Express on the new computer and
then export them to Outlook.

If you did not copy the .dbx files with the most recent modified date, you
no longer have access to the recent mails.

When you say the computer died shortly thereafter, do you mean the hard
drives failed or something else? If the hard drives are still intact but
the computer won't boot, you can take out the hard drive, put it in as a
slave on your new computer (or a friend's computer) and then find the .dbx
file(s) and copy them to your USB drive. They will be named inbox.dbx,
sentitems.dbx, etc.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer,
(e-mail address removed) asked:

| Hello Milly,
|
| Sorry, I should have specified. My original email was
| Outlook Express. When I got my new computer I tried to
| copy the folders and mails to Outlook (I now have Office
| XP). When it didn't work I tried Outlook Express (both
| versions were present on my new PC). It was the same
| problem (got all the old folders/mails and none of the
| recent ones). I didn't use the export facility (more fool
| me) but I simply dragged the Outlook folder from my old
| PC to the USB storage device (Parent folder called
| Outlook Express, with two sub-folders called Mail and
| News).
|
| I do not have access to my old PC, it died shortly after
| I had finished the copying. I can't see how I've lost all
| of my data though if I can still read it through Notepad.
| I guess what you are saying then, is that there's no way
| I can get it back into the Outlook folder structure?
| That's grim news. My own fault I suppose for not
| exporting properly but it was panic stations!
|
| Thanks for your response.
|
| Best regards, Sharon
|
|| -----Original Message-----
|| ..dbx files are from Outlook Express, not Outlook. Did you export
|| or copy your .pst file (Outlook's data file)? If not, and you no
|| longer have access to the old computer, then your data is lost.
||
|| --
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
|| the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my
|| personal account will be deleted without reading.
||
|| After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Sharon
|| asked:
||
||| Dear Outlook Gurus,
|||
||| Please HELP. My portable PC was about to die and so I
||| copied all the important folders to my USB storage pen
||| device. I was panicked so, rather than make an Export
||| from Outlook I just copied the folders along with all my
||| other data folders.
|||
||| I have now purchased a new PC and copied everything over.
||| EXCEPT I simply cannot get my most recent emails. I used
||| the Outlook Import facility and it seemed to work OK.
||| However, I have nothing for 2003 and 2004. What I do get
||| is all the much older mails and folders, most of which I
||| am *sure* that I deleted a while back.
|||
||| When I look at my USB storage device I can see all the
||| folders that don't import. They all have .dbx file
||| extensions, they all have significant file sizes
||| indicating content. When I open any of them using WordPad
||| I can see (after all the code) the text of the emails
||| within those folders. But ... I really want to have my
||| Outlook structure the way it was before. HOW
||
||
|| .
 
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