Lost access to all the local mails stored on the hard disk

Hi,
Last month i had migrated from an old computer to a new computer.
I had Netscape 4.x in my old computer. I took backup of all my local mail folders and copied them to the new computer.

Installed Netscape 7.1 on the new computer and configured my mail.
I specified the local directory containing my local mails in the Local Directory of my Local Folder Setting.

Till yesterady i was able to access my local mails and move the mails from my inbox to local folders successfully and also access them.

Yesterday, unfortunately i navigated to the Server Setting of Server mail account and found that the Local Directory is point to the directoy created by the system in the C: Document and Setting.
Unknowingly i changed the Local Directory to the local directory created by me which contained all the local folders.

And my trouble starts, i am now unable to access my local mails.

In my Local Mail Folders i have .sbd and .snm files and i don't have the backup of my local folders prior to this mishap.

Now i am unable to access these local folder from either Netscape 4.x or Netscape 7.1.

Questions:

1. What does .snm files contain?
2. What does .msf files contain?
3.What doe .sbd files contain?
4.What is the email file structure in Netscape 4.x?
5.What is the email file structure in Netscape 7.x?
6. Is there a way to get back my local mails?

Any help in this regards is highly appreciated.

Thanks
Stadoori

 

The .snm files are the header files of NS4.x, and are not being used. In fact they can cause problem, and the solution to disappearing mail is to delete them, with the program closed. But, if anything you should be concerned of the .msf files which belong to 7.x, and are also disposable. .sbd folders are subfolders, and inside them you will see names different from the default Inbox, erc. They should be saved.
Only the files with no extention should be handled. Except for the header files there is no difference between the 4.x and 7.x files.
I think that you tried to take shortcuts, instead of going down the beaten path.
I use a conservative approach which takes hardly any time, and it works.
I first set up my mail, after installation of the program, and get any recent mail. Then I close the program (important!) and go the transferred folder. I open whatever you had, profile, or just mail account, and make a copy of the Inbox, Sent, etc and rename the copy to anything you want, but different. Then right click copy the file, and open the new .slt folder, and right click|Paste. Continue till you are done. By doing this you don't risk anything, and when you open the Mail, you should see everything. If you made changes in the path, put it back to the original.
As for backing, I still that you understand what you mean, but don't refer to "local mail" unless you are sure that you know what it means. There are complications because there is a "Local Directory ". That is the path to your mail account, and the mail which you downloaded. The Inbox, and other files like that are the local files, if you wish. And, then there are Local Folders, which are not properly named, in my opinion.
The sikmplest way to do a backup is to copy the entire .slt folder. It has a characteristic name, and it contains other goodies.
The important thing is that you don't use cut or drag and drop. If you miss you have lost quite a bit. And, always rename files which have identical names. And, work with the program closed.
Good luck.

 

Welcome to the Forum, stadoori!

1. and 2. Westside has explained the SNM and MSF files.

3. Westside also explained that the SBD folders contain the subfolders of your mail accounts.

4. The structure in Netscape 4.x:
Mail folders are located in the User name folder here:
C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\username\Mail

5. The structure in Netscape 7.x
Mail Account folders are located in the salted *.slt folder located here:
<path>\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\*.slt\Mail\pop.isp.net

6. If your Mail is on the HD, you can recover, as you didn't delete the Mail.

What we need to know is:
- the exact path of the Mail you wish to recover
- the exact path of the Mail Account folder
- your OS
- if you have tried to combine the Netscape 4 and Netscape 7 Mail

Ramona

 

Ramona,
Thanks for your reply.

- the exact path of the Mail you wish to recover
D:\Mail

- the exact path of the Mail Account folder
C:\Documents and Settings\stadoori\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\shobha.tadoori\12345678.slt\Mail\Local Folders

- your OS
Windows 2000

- if you have tried to combine the Netscape 4 and Netscape 7 Mail
No


Additional Info:
After i lost access to the local mails i uninstalled Netscape 7.1 and reinstalled again in the course of rectifying the issue.

Thanks
Shobha

 

Shobha,

I still need a bit more clarification:

By local mail, do you mean the Mail Account folder? You were able to move messages from the Inbox to subfolders? Your using the term "local folders" is very confusing, as there is a Local Folders folder in the Mail Account folder.
The Mail Account in Mail & Newsgroups is just that: Mail Account
On the HDD the Mail Account folder contains your mail files
The Local Folders should only contain IMAP messages, NG posts, etc.

You changed the Local Directory path after you discovered it was pointing to the Mail Account folder, or before the discovery? Did you change it from:
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\shobha.tadoori\12345678.slt\ Mail\Local Folders
back to: D:\Mail?

The correct path for your Mail Account folder should be:
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\shobha.tadoori\12345678.slt\ Mail\pop.yourisp.net
The "Local Folders" folder is used for Webmail, Newsgroup replies, etc. It is not intended for current Mail. That should always be directed to your Mail Account folder which is your ISP account name. If you had Earthlink, then your Mail Account folder would be named: pop.earthlink.net. This is where your current Mail files are stored.

When you installed Netscape 7.1, and set up your Mail Account(s) using the Mail Account Wizard, once you had your accounts set up, was it then that you changed the Local directory setting in Server Settings to D:\Mail?

In Windows Explorer, when you view your Mail Account folder, do you also have files without MSF folders, i.e., Inbox, Drafts, Templates, Sent, etc.?

Have you tried returning the Server Settings | Local directory path to D:\Mail?

Uninstalling Netscape 7.1 will do nothing, as your issue is in the Profile, which is untouched by an uninstall.

Thanks,

Ramona

 

Ramona
Thanks for your quick updates.

By local mail i mean the mails that i moved from the Inbox to my local folder 'D:\Mail' created by me.

Unknowingly I changed the Local Directory of Server Setting from
"C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\STADOORI\APPLICATION DATA\Mozilla\Profiles\shobha.tadoori\x1nadk3n.slt\ImapMail\
rgmapacimap.oraclecorp.com" to "D:\Mail "

When i installed Netscape 7.1, and set up my Mail Account(s) using the Mail Account Wizard, once i had my accounts set up, i didn't touch the Local Directory Server Settings. I changed only the Local Directory Local Folder Setting to D:\Mail because i actually didn't know what is the purpose of the Local Directory in the Server Settings.
And i worked for a month with no issues.


Unfortunately one bad day i saw that the Local Directory is not pointing to D:\Mail, without noticing whether i am in the Server Settings window or the Local Folder Setting window i changed the Local Directory to D:\Mail and saved, closed and opened the browser.

When i couldn't see the mails that i stored in my D:/Mail, i realized that i changed the Local Directory path of the Server Settings to D:\Mail and because of which all the files (that actually contains the content of all the mails) with no extension are deleted from my D:\Mail folder and i am left with .sbd and .snm files.

From what ever little R&D i did i think without the content files .snm and .sbd files are of no use. Is there a way to get back the content files (files with no extension).


Thanks,
Shobha

 

Shobha,

Merely changing the Local directory path will not delete messages. Unless you physically deleted the messages, they are still on your HD. Do a Windows "Find" for Inbox, and see what you come up with. If you remember the content of any of the messages you can always add that to your search.

Ramona