Re: Lost Inbox Contents from Compacting Inbox

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Yes, as I wrote in the original post, My OE froze while compacting my Inbox,
so I had to close it with CtrlAltDelete. So I guess the computer was shut
down *before* the Inbox was compacted. Thank you very much for your posts in
any case. I have printed out the relevant info from your links, and I am sure
it will come in handy in the future!

Janet

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

I can't explain a particular link to you unless you tell me which on you are
referring to.

I pointed you to DBXpress because it is the only tool that can read directly
from the HDD, which is needed to recover messages that disappeared during
that process.

It would seem to me that if http://macallan.club.fr/index.htm. worked, then
the computer was shut down *before* the Inbox was compacted.

I didn't want to have you purchase a program you didn't need, but the way I
read your OP, I thought you would need it.

Either way, I'm glad you got the messages back.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~


"Janetb" <Janetb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:F0961305-3BB6-4B59-A467-F9FF26E6C40A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you. I had already seen this post which you you posted earlier
elsewhere. As I wrote in my original post, I had already followed the
instructions to import the Inbox.dbx folder. I believe that the most of
the
links in your post are relevant only to undamaged .dbx files, as they have
to
do with backup and re-importing. My understanding from one of the links is
that is that all your restoration links will be importing a newly created
Inbox, whereas I am trying to view messages from the 'old' one.....

In any case, I believe I tried what may be relelvant to no avail, and I
believe one of your links explain why. (?)

It is not clear if I should try anything with the Inbox.dbt files. I do
not
know what this is or how to work with .dbt files.

I have Windows 2KPro.

Purchasing programs are a little complicated for me, as I live outside the
US and---apart from technical difficulties of foreign currency--- exchange
rates as well as much lower incomes than in US and Europe make items which
are inexpensive for Americans and Europeans costly for me, especially if I
don't know if they will work for my problem. I see your DBXtract is quite
old. Would it do the job for sure? If the oroginal, large dbx and dbt
files
are there in the system, doesn't Microsoft have any means of access?

Thanks for your help,
Janet








"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

DBXpress is the only tool that has a chance of recovering mail after
compacting unless you have XP/SP2 and downloaded the patch below under
Recovery Tools. Read on.

The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), and
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 using a fully patched version of XP/SP2, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069/en-us

If not:

DBXpress run in 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 if you don't want to lose your messages 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.

And backup often.

Backup and Restore:

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Janetb" <Janetb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D66886FD-6CD1-4498-AB30-97451B76AF19@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My OE froze while compacting my Inbox, so I had to close it with
CtrlAltDelete. Now all my Inbox messages are gone. Can I retrieve them
without having to buy a new program? A search shows I do still have an
Inbox.dbx file of 4,811 KB as well as an Inbox.dbt file of 2,302 KB.

I followed these directions from OEHelp to no avail:"To backup and
restore
a
single OE5 mail folder, save the appropriate dbx file. To restore,
create
a
new folder in OE5 (call it archiv1, for example) and access it once.
Then
close OE and find archiv1.dbx and delete it. Make a copy of the folder
you
want to restore and rename it to archiv1.dbx. Then copy that file into
the
directory where the previous file was deleted. Open OE and the messages
you
wanted to restore will be accessible via opening that archiv1 folder."
I
was a little confused about the first sentence of the
directions---where
it
said "save the appropriate dbx file", I simply copied it to my Desktop.
Is
that what was meant?

I am not rebooting until I hear from you---afraid I might lose
something.....

Thanks,
Janet





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