Lost messages after compacting (OE 6)

Using OE 6 on XP pro sp2.

On 29 Aug closed OE and was asked compact? chose yes. I have used this before and it was ok. Closed OE. Closed all other tasks then went to shutdown ok with no errors.

However I think I may have been a little too quick to power off as shutdown may not have quite completed. Had a moment of thought - was it too soon - don't know.

Booted up next day and all seemed fine but OE is not working properly. Address book, deleted folder and one other is ok but inbox, sent, drafts etc are empty. Found .Bak files in recycle and copied all identifiable OE files to another folder and also restored them from recycle bin but OE now uses inbox (1).dbx etc.

Renamed them to .dbx in the new older and tried to import them into OE.
OE says there are no messages or files in use etc - files are about 35Mb max.

With OE closed I tried removing the 'inbox (1).dbx' etc and renaming the old inbox to inbox (1) etc to fool it into thinking it was getting the right file.

As a test I imported the Deleted folder and that worked fine although of course I ended up with duplicates.

On one iteration it said it had imported 636 messages (about right) but it does not show them!

There was at least a 2 minute gap between compacting and shutdown start and there was no obvious activity.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Hello 1Mike, welcome to the forum

If you still have the .bak versions of Inbox, Sent Items and Drafts, this should work:

1. Close Outlook Express. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to your store folder which, if you haven't moved it, is located at C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.

2. Now move the .bak versions of Inbox, Sent Items and Drafts elsewhere, say, My Documents and rename them to their proper names, e.g. Inbox.dbx. You may have to show 'hidden' files in Folder Options > View Tab to see them.

3. In the store folder, right-click and Delete all Inbox files, including (1) versions. If you cannot access it/them because it’s "˜read only’, right-click it > Properties and uncheck the Read attribute. Repeat the deletion for Sent Items and Drafts.

4. Open Outlook Express and a new, empty Inbox, Sent Items and Drafts will be created.

5. Close Outlook Express and open both your OE store folder and the My Documents versions. Now copy Inbox.dbx in My Documents to Inbox.dbx in the store folder. Repeat for Sent Items and Drafts.

 

Thanks BurrWalnut,

Sorry for delay in responding, I tried your solution but it did not work so i tried a few other things too:

The 'lost' inbox file in the recycle bin was a >bak timed at 00:03. The last entry in the recycle was 00:11 so I would have thought the inbox was ok but it still says 'there are no messages' etc in it OR it has 'imported successfully' - it was so quick nothing could have been imported.

This morning as part of my searching around I booted off the E: to a Windows ME disk I used to use (still on my system) - I did not want to upset the XP OE. However it looks like it upset the recycle bin because when I looked for the .bak files this afternoon it was empty. For the 'inbox' all I have pre-dating the problem (by 8+ minutes) is the renamed .bak which has not worked. For the other folders I have the .bak files ranging from 6 Aug to 19 Aug (predating) and for 30 Aug (the morning after).

I tried the 'sent' folder dated 19 Aug by your method but it did not work. It seems anythink .bak or dbx created under XP does not work!

On the WIN ME disc I did find OE folders holding mail up to 17 May and they all imported OK. That means most of the folders are set up as they should be etc but the contents are not up to date of course. So as a last check I tried importing the 00:03 inbox again but it didn't work.

Not looking good is it?

I have run out of ideas now!

Do you have any?

Many thanks,

Mike

 

Mike

Sorry, I was convinced it would work.

Have a look at this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

[FONT= "Times New Roman"]Fine English furniture is the new rock 'n' roll[/FONT]

The Chippendale Society

 

Lost messages after compacting (OE 6)

Many thanks BurrWalnut,

I will use this and hopefully that will fix it.

I did a search on MS but it did not lead me to this fix.

Many thanks,

Mike