Corrupt Inbox File In Netscape 7.2

Apparently during a disk intensive exercise, Inbox, sent, and draft files become corrupted. Still not clear why.

NS profile appears to be intact as I am directed to the correct subdirectory under Documents & Settings. Inbox file is >350 megabytes and sent file is >160 megabytes but NS 7.2 doesn't display any messages. This occurred during program load.

I am running NS 7.2 on Win XP SP2 on a Dell XPS laptop.

I tried deleting the msf files and having NS rebuild the files. No luck however, this did find a single useless email from 2/07??!! and displayed it in the inbox.

Trash for whatever reason is intact.

What is the technique/utility/other way to recover corrupt INbox files and / or sent files in NS 7.2 other than the simple msf rebuild?

 

Welcome to the Forum, pcovington!

pcovington,

This is a bug in Netscape, in the event of a system crash, power failure, etc.

Open Netscape Mail & Newsgroups | Account Settings | Server Settings
Scroll to the bottom of the window, to the "Local directory" field

Does this path point to the correct location of the Mail Account folder? The folder which contains the messages?

If not, then in the "Local directory" setting, click on the "Browse" button to the right of the field, and select the correct Mail Account folder.

When you check the Mail Account folder using Windows Explorer, you may see folders that are named: acctname-1.isp.net
If so, once you have recovered your Mail, I would delete those folders, unless you have mail in them.

If you have received mail, then rename the Inbox, to Inbox2, and copy that file to your default Mail Account folder. Don't copy the MSF file. The Inbox2 will show up in the left panel of Mail & Newsgroups Accounts.

Let us know if you have further questions.

.

 

Yes the path points to the correct location of the Mail Account folder. I had already checked that. Thanks but any other thoughts?

 

pcovington,

With Netscape closed, open the Inbox which has the 350MB of mail. Can you see the actual messages?

If you have a backup of your Profiles folder
First: rename the prefs.js file in the *.slt folder to ZZ*.slt
Copy the prefs.js file in the backup
Paste it into the xxxxxxxx.slt folder, and it will replace the renamed file

Any joy?

If not, then try this:
Open Netscape Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings
Highlight the Mail Account
Click on the "Remove" tab
When prompted to: Delete Files? Don't Delete Files select: Don't Delete Files
Go ahead and set up a new Mail Account

Next: Close Netscape, and Quick Launch
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to your Mail Account Folder
Your Mail Accounts will be similar to:
pop.accountname.net
pop.accountname-1.net

Rename the Inbox in the old mail account folder to Inbox2
Paste that file into the new mail account folder
Don't copy the MSF files

Open Netscape
Is your Mail viewable?

If so then rename the Sent, Drafts, and other folders in the old account which contain mail. Also, ensure that the "Local directory" path points to the new Mail Account.

If none of the above help, then create a new Profile. See this page for a guideline:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/NS7newprofile.html

As a word of caution, the size of your Inbox is much too large. The Inbox is not intended for archiving, and I always suggest that it remains under 1 MB. Create subfolders under the Mail Account, or under the Inbox and organize the mail accordingly. You risk losing all your mail by allowing the Inbox to grow to such a large size.

 

Thank You

The solution was to rebuild the profile. Interestingly, during all this I reached a point where I could see the messages if I compacted the Inbox file. However, as soon as I cursed to a different directory (say for example trash) compacted it to see its messages and then went back to say Inbox, I could no longer see the messages.

Once I rebuilt the profile everything was back and the files having been compacted were < than 50 megabytes!

 

pcovington,

I'm happy to hear that the new profile gave you back your mail. Don't forget to reduce the size of your Inbox to around 1 MB. The maximum is 2 MB, but I would never allow the Inbox to grow to that size.

Take a look at this Netscape Solutions page: Preventive Browser Maintenance. Some good tips there for getting top performance from your browser...

 

Inn my personal experience, I have stayed, with two accounts between 1+-2+MB, never having a problem. I move especially large e-mails to archiving folders, and in other cases anything from one person goes to another such folder. It is a heck of a lot easier to find stuff this way, unless you have correspondence with a very diverse group.