Help! I lost ALL my mail after deleting a Profile!

I deleted a profile that I thought was no longer necessary, not realizing that deleting the profile would cause ALL files stored under that profile's directory to be deleted too! All the mail-related files were also in use by the only remaining profile. This means I just deleted nearly 1 gigabyte of mail from my computer. I don't have a backup of the most recent mail.

Is there any way I can recover the lost mail? Certain new business development projects depend on getting that mail back.

A scan with Norton's undelete doesn't seeem to be turning up anything useful.

Thanks for any assistance that anyone might be able to provide.

 

Welcome to the Forum, cdwitmer!

Hi cdwitmer,

When you deleted the Profile, was this done in the Profile Manager? If so, you were given the choice to either Don't Delete Files, or Delete Files. If you selected "Delete Files" then your Profile is gone, and your Mail.

Open Windows Explorer and look for your Profile here:
Windows 98:
C:/Windows/Application Data/Mozilla/Profiles/profilename/xxxxxxxx.slt/Mail

Windows 2000/Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings/user_name/Application Data/Mozilla/Profiles/profilename/xxxxxxxx.slt/Mail

NOTE: These files are hidden by default.
To see hidden files:
1. On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options
2. Click the View tab
3. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders

Ramona

 

Maybe there is still hope . . .

Ramona,

I can't thank you enough for your help. It looks like my profile and mail may indeed be history since checking according to your instructions shows the directory to be totally empty. I sure don't remember seeing anything about an option to delete or not delete files, but I suppose I must have overlooked it.

There is one last possibility remaining, and I'd like to run it past you. I actually had a complete backup of all this information in a folder on my Win 98 Desktop, and I deleted the whole thing immediately prior to zapping the profile. I thought, "I don't need this anymore; it's taking up about 800 megabytes of space so I'll just delete it." Windows asked me, "All these files are too big to fit in your wastebasket; delete them anyway?" And I clicked yes, so my backup directory disappeared momentarily before my profile and its data were deleted. What is the likelihood that I can still recover the *backup* directory that had been on my Desktop? And if there's a fighting chance, what would be the tool to use? My Win98 Norton Unerase utility seems rather underpowered for this task, although maybe it's as good as this kind of software gets . . . any thoughts?

Many thanks,

Chris aka cdwitmer

 

Chris,

I did a Google Search for undelete utilities, and there are a zillion out there, and yes I suppose Norton is as good as any. Most of them (Including Norton Unerase) say that they can recover files which have bypassed the Recycle Bin. Maybe someone else will jump in here, and make some suggestions, or perhaps you might ask about a good undelete program on the Other Software Forum here on the BBS. I did find this Symantec Article: How to recover a deleted file by running Norton UnErase from the CD.

You've never said what OS you run, but there is a feature in Windows XP which will allow you to take your system back to a specific time, similar to GoBack.

I feel for you!

Ramona