HELP! accidentally deleted Outlook Express folder

[Guest]

I accidentally deleted the Outlook Express folder that contains all my email
files. I could not find the deleted folder in my recycle bin, presumably
because it was larger than the recycle bin's reserved capacity. In fact the
contents of my recycle bin were wiped out at the same time. Is there any way
to restore the folder and all its files? Surely it is somewhere on my hard
drive. Many thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Guest]

I don't know of anyway to recover deleted files using windows but there are
programs out there that can do it.
"recover my files" is one of them.

 

[Guest]

Thanks. Any freeware you can recommend for that?

I don't know of anyway to recover deleted files using windows but there are
programs out there that can do it.
"recover my files" is one of them.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I'll try that.

I don't know of anyway to recover deleted files using windows but there are
programs out there that can do it.
"recover my files" is one of them.

 

[Cary]

I accidentally deleted the Outlook Express folder that contains all my email
files. I could not find the deleted folder in my recycle bin, presumably
because it was larger than the recycle bin's reserved capacity. In fact the
contents of my recycle bin were wiped out at the same time. Is there any way
to restore the folder and all its files? Surely it is somewhere on my hard
drive. Many thanks for any help you can provide.

Stop using the PC before you over write any more data. You can then
place your hard drive in another PC as a slave. Run read-only recovery
software at this point in time.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

I accidentally deleted the Outlook Express folder that contains all my
email
files. I could not find the deleted folder in my recycle bin, presumably
because it was larger than the recycle bin's reserved capacity. In fact
the
contents of my recycle bin were wiped out at the same time. Is there any
way
to restore the folder and all its files? Surely it is somewhere on my hard
drive. Many thanks for any help you can provide.

So this wasn't your Inbox it was a folder you created? AFAIK the Inbox can't
be deleted. However if this was the Inbox and it is missing you might be
able to simply use System Restore. If you don't know how to use System
Restore go to Start->Help & Support and click System Restore listed under
Pick a task. Then follow the System Restore wizard to revert back to the
date prior to the problem.

If this was not the Inbox but a folder you created then you will need third
party software http://www.recover-my-email.com/

Harry

 

[Guest]

I am sure there are freeware programs that can recover some of your files but
there's always a catch to using 'free' software (pop-ups, ads, spam, trojans).

I guess it depends if you think recovering your emails are worth the price
or not.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am sure there are freeware programs that can recover some of your files but
there's always a catch to using 'free' software (pop-ups, ads, spam, trojans).

Not true. It's certainly true of some freeware, but it's far from true
that "there's always [such] a catch." There is lots of free software
that doesn't do anything like that at all, and works very well. In
many cases, the freeware is among the best products of its kind.

And by the way, whether or not software (freeware or not) can recover
deleted files depends on whether the space it used to occupy has been
overwritten yet or not. You can *sometimes* recover deleted files, but
not always. Here's my standard post on the subject:

"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space
as available to be used. There are third-party programs that can
sometimes recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by
the file is likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes
the file unrecoverable.

So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you
try recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go
downhill from there. If you've been using the computer since then (for
example to write this question and read this answer), your chances are
probably very poor by now.

But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop
using the computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so
already. Download an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several
others to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and
bring it to yours on a floppy to try.

If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
expensive and may or may not work in your case.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the info. The freeware I downloaded was not so helpful, so I
ended up buying Recover My Files, which helped restore some of the lost
emails.

~Erhard Mahnke

I am sure there are freeware programs that can recover some of your files but
there's always a catch to using 'free' software (pop-ups, ads, spam, trojans).

Not true. It's certainly true of some freeware, but it's far from true
that "there's always [such] a catch." There is lots of free software
that doesn't do anything like that at all, and works very well. In
many cases, the freeware is among the best products of its kind.

And by the way, whether or not software (freeware or not) can recover
deleted files depends on whether the space it used to occupy has been
overwritten yet or not. You can *sometimes* recover deleted files, but
not always. Here's my standard post on the subject:

"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the space
as available to be used. There are third-party programs that can
sometimes recover deleted files. The problem is that the space used by
the file is likely to become overwritten very quickly, and this makes
the file unrecoverable.

So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent if you
try recovering it immediately after deleting it, and rapidly go
downhill from there. If you've been using the computer since then (for
example to write this question and read this answer), your chances are
probably very poor by now.

But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway. Stop
using the computer in question immediately, if you haven't done so
already. Download an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are several
others to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's computer and
bring it to yours on a floppy to try.

If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
expensive and may or may not work in your case.

 

[Guest]

I don't have access to another PC to hook mine up to, nor the know-how to do
it. Even so, I ended up buying some recovery software that helped recover
some of the lost files.

Thanks,
~Erhard Mahnke

 

[Guest]

It was the Inbox and every other Outlook Express file I had, so clearly the
Inbox *can* be deleted. System Retsore did nothing, as usual. I find it to be
a pretty useless Windows feature. I bought file recovery software that helped
restore some of the lost email files, and I was able to reconstruct others
from an older back-up. Still, I lost a bunch of emails.

Thanks for your help,
~Erhard Mahnke