Recover Outlook Express Files

[Guest 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?

[Guest Bruce Hagen]

Re: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

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

--

Bruce Hagen

MS-MVP Outlook Express

Imperial Beach, CA

 

 

"BrianK" <BrianK@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:70B6F4E3-E458-49F3-84C1-B880DD41D676@microsoft.com...

>I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find them. How

> can I recover these compacted e-mails?

[Guest Alan]

RE: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

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.

 

"BrianK" wrote:

> I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find them. How

> can I recover these compacted e-mails?

[Guest HEMI-Powered]

RE: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

=?Utf-8?B?QWxhbg==?= added these comments in the current

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.

>

> "BrianK" wrote:

>

>> I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not

>> find them. How can I recover these compacted e-mails?

 

--

HP, aka Jerry

 

"Surely you jest - and don't call me Shirley!" - from the movie

"Airplane!"

[Guest Holz]

Re: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 17:53:01 -0800

BrianK <BrianK@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> 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.

 

--

Live & let live, or leave.

:-)

[Guest PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Re: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

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:

http://news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

 

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)

MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002

 

BrianK wrote:

> I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find them.

> How

> can I recover these compacted e-mails?

[Guest Priman LEE]

Re: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

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

 

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

> 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

> --

> Bruce Hagen

> MS-MVP Outlook Express

> Imperial Beach, CA

>

>

> "BrianK" <BrianK@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:70B6F4E3-E458-49F3-84C1-B880DD41D676@microsoft.com...

> >I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find them. How

> > can I recover these compacted e-mails?

>

>

[Guest Bruce Hagen]

Re: Recover Outlook Express Files

 

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:

http://news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

 

On the Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

--

Bruce Hagen

MS-MVP Outlook Express

Imperial Beach, CA

 

 

"Priman LEE" <Priman LEE@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:AF534256-DC5D-4AFE-9408-C9775485042B@microsoft.com...

> 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

>

> "Bruce Hagen" wrote:

>

>> 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

>> --

>> Bruce Hagen

>> MS-MVP Outlook Express

>> Imperial Beach, CA

>>

>>

>> "BrianK" <BrianK@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> news:70B6F4E3-E458-49F3-84C1-B880DD41D676@microsoft.com...

>> >I compacted my e-mails in Outlook Express 6.0 and I can not find them.

>> >How

>> > can I recover these compacted e-mails?

>>

>>