B
BrianK
I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find them. How
can I recover these compacted e-mails?
can I recover these compacted e-mails?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
B
Bruce Hagen
Crossposted to Outlook Express General Newsgroup. Please continue
correspondence there.
The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), or bloated
folders. More on that below.
Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact
Why Mail Disappears:
http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Recovery tools:
If you are running XP/SP2, and are fully patched, then you should have a
backup of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, (or possibly the message
store), copied as bak files.
To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, first find the location
of the Message Store.
Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer.
In WinXP, the .dbx files are by default marked as hidden. To view these
files in Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start
| Control Panel | Folder Options | View.
Close OE and then in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing, or empty, folder and drag it to the Desktop. It can be deleted
later once you have successfully restored the bak file. Minimize the Message
Store.
Open OE and, if the folder is missing, create a folder with the *exact* same
name as the bak file you want to restore but without the .bak. Eg: If the
file is Saved.bak, the new folder should be named Saved. Open the new folder
and then close OE. If the folder is there, but just empty, continue on to
the next step.
First, check if there is a bak file already in the message store. If there
is, and you removed the dbx file, go ahead and rename it to dbx.
If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore. Open the
message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to .dbx. Close
the message store and open OE. The messages should now be back in the
folder.
If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete the
old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
If you do not have bak copies of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, then:
DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode is the best chance to recover
messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
And see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4
A general warning to help avoid this in the future:
Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupted. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move
your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.
Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs, slows down sending and receiving, and
causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs, account setting changes
and has even been responsible for lose of messages. Your up-to-date A/V
program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
And backup often.
Backup and Restore:
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx
And this good one click backup program.
Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
correspondence there.
The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), or bloated
folders. More on that below.
Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact
Why Mail Disappears:
http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Recovery tools:
If you are running XP/SP2, and are fully patched, then you should have a
backup of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, (or possibly the message
store), copied as bak files.
To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, first find the location
of the Message Store.
Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer.
In WinXP, the .dbx files are by default marked as hidden. To view these
files in Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start
| Control Panel | Folder Options | View.
Close OE and then in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing, or empty, folder and drag it to the Desktop. It can be deleted
later once you have successfully restored the bak file. Minimize the Message
Store.
Open OE and, if the folder is missing, create a folder with the *exact* same
name as the bak file you want to restore but without the .bak. Eg: If the
file is Saved.bak, the new folder should be named Saved. Open the new folder
and then close OE. If the folder is there, but just empty, continue on to
the next step.
First, check if there is a bak file already in the message store. If there
is, and you removed the dbx file, go ahead and rename it to dbx.
If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore. Open the
message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to .dbx. Close
the message store and open OE. The messages should now be back in the
folder.
If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete the
old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
If you do not have bak copies of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, then:
DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode is the best chance to recover
messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
And see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4
A general warning to help avoid this in the future:
Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupted. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move
your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.
Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs, slows down sending and receiving, and
causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs, account setting changes
and has even been responsible for lose of messages. Your up-to-date A/V
program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
And backup often.
Backup and Restore:
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx
And this good one click backup program.
Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
A
Alan
compacting is just a way to shrink the dbx files after you have removed a
bunch of e-mails. When you run it it will search the dbx file for empty
pages and delete them... it doesnt actually move the e-mails anywhere. If
you are missing specific folders make sure you go to folder options fromt he
tools menu of any windows explorer window (not internet explorer) and show
hidden files and folders. Once this is dont go to c:\documents and
settings\username\local settings\application data\identities\random long SID
here\microsoft\outlook express and check for the dbx files there. Local
settings is a hidden directory, which is why you need to change the options
for hidden files.
bunch of e-mails. When you run it it will search the dbx file for empty
pages and delete them... it doesnt actually move the e-mails anywhere. If
you are missing specific folders make sure you go to folder options fromt he
tools menu of any windows explorer window (not internet explorer) and show
hidden files and folders. Once this is dont go to c:\documents and
settings\username\local settings\application data\identities\random long SID
here\microsoft\outlook express and check for the dbx files there. Local
settings is a hidden directory, which is why you need to change the options
for hidden files.
H
HEMI-Powered
=?Utf-8?B?QWxhbg==?= added these comments in the current
discussion du jour ...
But, OE does write all of the uncompacted files to .bak extensions
then delete them. If anything goes wrong, they are in the Recycle
Bin, or at least, they always have been for me. This won't help the
OP except in future, but about once a month I copy all the .dbx
files to a data folder for safekeeping in case of a disk crash,
virus, or something.
discussion du jour ...
compacting is just a way to shrink the dbx files after you
have removed a bunch of e-mails. When you run it it will
search the dbx file for empty pages and delete them... it
doesnt actually move the e-mails anywhere. If you are missing
specific folders make sure you go to folder options fromt he
tools menu of any windows explorer window (not internet
explorer) and show hidden files and folders. Once this is
dont go to c:\documents and settings\username\local
settings\application data\identities\random long SID
here\microsoft\outlook express and check for the dbx files
there. Local settings is a hidden directory, which is why
you need to change the options for hidden files.
But, OE does write all of the uncompacted files to .bak extensions
then delete them. If anything goes wrong, they are in the Recycle
Bin, or at least, they always have been for me. This won't help the
OP except in future, but about once a month I copy all the .dbx
files to a data folder for safekeeping in case of a disk crash,
virus, or something.
H
Holz
I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find
them. How can I recover these compacted e-mails?
Switch to Thunderbird. Better backup and recovery option, many add-ons.
P
PA Bear [MS MVP]
Why it happens:
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Recovering the missing data: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx (#2 and #4)
and http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=918069 (Notes section under
Resolution)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DBXpress (faster, more powerful, with even greater functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avoiding Such Corruption in Future:
- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.
- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.
- Disable Background Compacting [not available in SP2] and frequently
perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm
- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.
- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:
<QP>
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
</QP>
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002111812533106
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Recovering the missing data: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx (#2 and #4)
and http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=918069 (Notes section under
Resolution)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DBXpress (faster, more powerful, with even greater functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avoiding Such Corruption in Future:
- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.
- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.
- Disable Background Compacting [not available in SP2] and frequently
perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm
- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.
- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:
<QP>
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
</QP>
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2002111812533106
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
P
Priman LEE
Sorry, I have a problem!
The Inbox.bak in the recyle bin only carrying the same backup file as my
Inbox cos it may have been rewritten but some messages had lost maybe in
earlier unsuccessful compacting.
Any chance will find further in my computer
regards
PL
The Inbox.bak in the recyle bin only carrying the same backup file as my
Inbox cos it may have been rewritten but some messages had lost maybe in
earlier unsuccessful compacting.
Any chance will find further in my computer
regards
PL
B
Bruce Hagen
Please start your own new thread explaining /your/ problem and give as much
detail as possible.
Get rid of the XP newsgroup and post to OE General only. Thank you.
Outlook Express General Newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general
On the Web:
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...px?dg=microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general
detail as possible.
Get rid of the XP newsgroup and post to OE General only. Thank you.
Outlook Express General Newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general
On the Web:
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...px?dg=microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general
Ask a Question
Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?
You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.