problems restoring inbox from backup

After my hardrive died Tue, I spent today re-installing everything. All's well except one thing: I replaced the new Inbox file (Okb, no extension) with my old one (500MB) and I can see the few messages that were in the unsorted Inbox area, but none of the subfolders or their contents appear. I read Silly Dog here : http://sillydog.org/netscape/kb/mailbackup.html and it appears (although his grammar could be better) that I should have also copied the subfolders? (I don't recall there being any subfolders in the Profile/.../Mail folder... I only copied the Inbox, but I think that all the old folders and messages must be in there, due to its size. Any suggestions on restoring it?

 

What happens if you open the your mail files (inbox, sent, etc) in notepad (or any other plain text editor)? If your messages are there, you should see them. The mail "folder" is just a plain text file. Close netscape first...

Additionally, if you made any additional folders in netscape, you will need to restore those too. Inbox, outbox, drafts, sent, and any other folders your made in netscape will appear as files in explorer (the ones with no extensions).

Hopefully Ramona will chime in with some other ideas...

tranquilo

 

Thanks, I tried to open it in Wordpad, and it ate all my memory and hung the program (again, it's 500MB).

It's the SUBfolders of the Inbox that aren't showing up, I didn't bother backing up Sent, Trash etc. Are you saying I should re-create those empty folders in the new Netscape, then import the Inbox? Last time I tried it it just created a separate Inbox in my account, alongside the "Local Folders" one. The old files are gone for good (hard drive failure) - all I saved was the single file "Inbox" from the old one.

 

Creating a new inbox has worked for me in the past.

create a new inbox within netscape
close netscape
delete the inbox.msf (if it exists yet)
copy the old inbox to your mail directory, overwriting the new inbox.
make sure your inbox is not read-only...
open netscape

You should see your mail...

tranquilo

 

still no subfolders...but thanks for trying

 

Hi luber,

Try this:

Close Netscape
Rename your existing Mail folder to OLDMail

Create a NEW folder, name it "Mail "
Now start Netscape, open your Mail Window
The following should appear in the left hand pane:

Your Account Name
Expand by clicking on the "Down" arrow
You will then see:
Inbox
Drafts
Templates
Sent
Trash

Close Netscape
Open Windows Explorer
From your backup/archived Mail Folder
Copy all files without an MSF extension
Copy all SBD folders (These are the subfolders)

See this page for reference:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/ns7mailtrnsfr.html

I'm thinking that you took Antony's instructions literally by copying only the Inbox, and not all your Mail files/folders. I could be incorrect in this assumption....

HTH,

Ramona

 

If you only have a single INBOX file inside your MAIL/ISPaccount folder are you sure it was 500MB? That's HUGE. Try opening Netscape Mail, then go to File Compact Folders. Thensee if it shrinks down in size.

I don't have any Inbox subfolders in Mozilla 1.0.1 (comparable to NS7) but I do in Communicator 4.79. The name of my Inbox subfolder within NS7.79's mail window is "Sheldon's Mail" Using Windows Explorer, looking in inside the Netscape users' profile's MAIL folder, I see the the Inbox, Sent, Drafts and Templates files in the right pane, but underneath the MAIL folder I have a separate Inbox.SBD sub folder. The Inbox.SBD subfolder contains it's own files... in my case, named "Sheldon's Mail and Sheldon's Mail.snm."

I think you needed to copy the Inbox.SBD folder's mailbox file, the one with no extension.