messages don't display -- corrupt mail file?

My old computer died and I'm moving my Netscape 7.1 mail files/folders over to my new computer. So far so good, meaning that it's just been a matter of copying the Inbox file and other local folders/files into the appropriate folder... then I open Netscape 7.1 mail and all of my E-mails appear. However there are a couple of files that do not display any messages when I open them in Netscape 7.1.

* The files do have messages in them (I've used Notepad to open them and make sure they're not empty).

* Netscape initially flashes the number of messages in the folder when it first opens (in the bottom right corner where it displays "Unread:" and "Total: "), but then the number goes to zero and no mail is displayed.

* Netscape generates an .MSF file for these files after it opens them for the first time.

Any idea what's going on and how I can repair these files, or at least recover the messages in them?

 

Welcome to the Forum, RC51Girl!

Hi RC51Girl,

Were the files which can't be accessed, subfolders? The reason I ask, is that often users aren't aware that when copying Mail folders, they must also copy the SBD (subfolder) files also. EG,

I have an Archive.sbd folder
I have an Archive file
I have an Archive.msf file

If I were to copy the Archive file to another Mail Account, I would only copy two files: Archive.sbd, and Archive

Let us know if this might be the problem.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

Only one of the files which can't be accessed was inside a subfolder, and the rest weren't:

* Inbox
* Drafts
* Sent
* Karl (was inside a subfolder)

I didn't copy any .MSF files over, and actually I never copied and .SBD files over either because I manually created new subfolders in Netscape 7.1 Mail.

FYI, I have multiple E-mail accounts/addresses (in case that's useful).

Thanks for your help!

 

RC51Girl,

I've copied folders that reside within subfolders, from a backup, to my current Mail Account, and haven't been able to create your issue.

You keep saying "files" but do you mean mail folders? It's a bit confusing to users, and they ARE files in Windows Explorer, but folders in Netscape's Mail Accounts. Just a little more clarification, please.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

Yes I mean mail folders such as "Inbox" and "Sent." I copy over just the folder (not the .msf or other files).

90% of my folders copied over just fine, regardless of whether or not they were subfolders. But a few of them won't display messages when I open Netscape Mail 7.1, even though I go into Windows Explorer and check to make sure the folders really aren't empty.

 

Doesn't the Inbox that you copied contain .msf files, or do you delete them after you've copied the folder to the new PC? If you're going to do it manually, I've found that renaming the Inbox in the backup to "OldInbox ", then copying it to the new Mail folder is the easier way to go. You can then copy all the messages in the OldInbox to the current, newly created Inbox, without fear of losing any messages.

Ramona

 

Thanks for your patience with me.

On my old computer, I see the following "files" in Windows Explorer:

Inbox 514KB
Inbox.msf 3KB

On my new computer, the Inbox (for that particular E-mail account) is completely empty because I just installed Netscape and never downloaded any E-mail. So I use Windows Explorer to drag the 514KB "Inbox" into the appropriate place and it asks to overwrite the old Inbox. I never bothered to delete the exising Inbox.msf on the new computer, though.

For my "Karl" folder there was no existing .msf file. So when I copied the folder over and opened Netscape Mail, the .msf file was generated. But the folder still appears empty in Netscape Mail.

 

RC51Girl,

If there was never a karl.msf file, then did you have problems reading this file on your old PC? If the karl file was originally within a subfolder and no karl.msf file, that denotes a problem.

Try this:
Open Netscape on the new PC
Create a Karl2 subfolder of your Mail Account

Close Netscape and Quick Launch

Open Windows Explorer
Backup your Mail Folder
Open the Karl file and copy all messages
Open the Karl2 files and paste all messages copied from the Karl file

Open Netscape
Can you view messages in the Karl2 folder?

Ramona

 

Karl.msf exists on the old computer and I never had problems reading E-mail in the "Karl" folder. I did not copy the .msf file over to the new computer because I knew one would be generated when I opened Netscape Mail. I did nothing different for all the other subfolders like "Karl" and can read all of them just fine on the new computer.

I tried what you suggested, using Notepad to open "Karl" and copy/paste all contents to "Karl2." The "Karl2" folder still appears empty when I open Netscape Mail.

 

RC51Girl,

Then I would say your file is corrupt. You can still save the Karl file, and read the messages by opening the file.

Ramona

 

Is there no way to repair a corrupt file? I realize that it's not the end of the world to open the file with Notepad and read everything in plain text, but it sure is annoying.