The size of a dbx file means nothing. Very often they get filled with
zeroes. You can open the file with Notepad and see if there is anything
readable in it, but I suspect not.
For the future see
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#6 OETool coupled with OEQB
(both are free) is an easy means to backup frequently and reliably so
that
you won't lose messages you consider important. But then you also need
to
copy the backup off the hard drive as that could fail and then you'd lose
everything.
steve
The messages are in the Sent Items .dbx folder, according to the size
of
it, but since there is no .bak file folder in the Recycle Bin, I can't
seem
to recover them to their original state so I can transfer them to
different
folders. Since the cost of the fix for that problem is too much for
this
wallet, I will have to say I've learned my lesson and need to keep up
to
date
on my file sorting. Since my Vista system is "broke", I have been
relying
on
this XP to get me by until I can find the possible overheating problem
on
the
Vista.
Thanks anyway, and I will keep a copy of your instructions for the
future.
--
Terry
:
I just turned on my XP opened OE and checked Sent file for one of
yesterday's
forwards, and folder is empty. There were many emails in there last
night.
What happened and how do I recover them, and will it happen again?
Running
XP sp3 w/OE6 all up to date on updates. Emails were in there
yesterday.
All
other files look normal, even the Deleted folder. Recycle Bin is
also
empty.
--
Terry
[OE General newsgroup added for better coverage]
The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), or
bloated
folders. More on that below.
Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact
Why Mail Disappears:
http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Recovery tools:
If you are running XP/SP2, or SP3, and are fully patched, then you
should
have a backup of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, (or possibly the
message
store), copied as bak files.
To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, first find the
location
of the Message Store.
Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location
of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it
in
Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run.
In WinXP, the .dbx files are by default marked as hidden. To view
these
files in Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under
Start
| Control Panel | Folder Options | View.
Close OE and then in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing, or empty, folder and drag it to the Desktop. It can be
deleted
later once you have successfully restored the bak file. Minimize the
Message
Store.
Open OE and, if the folder is missing, create a folder with the
*exact*
same
name as the bak file you want to restore but without the .bak. Eg: If
the
file is Saved.bak, the new folder should be named Saved. Open the new
folder
and then close OE. If the folder is there, but just empty, continue on
to
the next step.
First, check if there is a bak file already in the message store. If
there
is, and you removed the dbx file, go ahead and rename it to dbx.
If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and
right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore.
Open
the
message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to .dbx.
Close
the message store and open OE. The messages should now be back in the
folder.
If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete
the
old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
If you do not have bak copies of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin,
then:
DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode is the best chance to recover
messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
And see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4
A general warning to help avoid this in the future:
Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupted. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and
move
your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user
created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.
Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs, slows down sending and receiving, and
causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs, account setting
changes
and has even been responsible for lose of messages. Your up-to-date
A/V
program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
And backup often.
Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB Freeware)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP [Mail]
Imperial Beach, CA
