Good Bye OE Inbox

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this question, but...I had to "restore" my Windows XP software from the computer's "restore" disk. It seemed that a total restore was the only option, so I did. Naturally, without thinking, I lost 7 months of messages and replies that were very important to me. I had a 6 month old back up on CD-R (since I bought a new computer 6 months ago and knew I was going to be restoring the OE messages and address book).

Would the needed (lost) files be anywhere on this C: drive? (I also have a D: and an E: )

 

You probably guessed right and your old stuff is toast but possibly not.

What brand of PC - so we can figure out exactly what the 'system restore' thing did to you?

What email client were you using?

 

It is a 6 month old Sony PCV-RS530G (Pentium 4 3.2, 512 mb ram, 160 gb hard drive, Windows XP sp2) Use Outlook Express 6.

 

rjcaldwell--Never did it but if the .dbx files are still on the hard drive you may find them using Restoration
http://www.webattack.com/get/restoration.html
Other ideas, but not free, are
http://www.oemailrecovery.com/
and
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23173,findid,40571,00.asp
The latter will allow you to determine whether the files can be recovered before making you pay.

 

I will try the free version but, usually on a Windows reinstall the disk gets formated. I guess I should be using some of my other drives to consistantly back-up those files.