Re: Where are Compacted OE Messages stored ???

Second question answer. The OE development team was disbanded in 2006 since this is the last version of OE that will be produced, but not to get people to switch to Windows Mail which you can only have in Vista.

There are more problems in WinMail than they fixed and that e-mail program is being all but abandoned. If you read through the Windows Vista Mail newsgroup, you will see many suggestions for people to switch to Windows Live Mail which you can use with Vista and XP.

Windows Live Mail (Overview & Features):
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview

~~~~~~~~

As far as losing messages when compacting, this is my standard *canned* reply. Note the do's and don'ts and even with the automatic backup, a program like OEQB, (mentioned near the end), is a good idea.

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, 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.

Backup and Restore:

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

And this good one click backup program.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Bubey" <catlov@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:OOfszRHtIHA.576@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for the reply and links......No, OE just keep asking me
I did once and lost msg from view in OE. Finally found them,
can't remember where now. Just don't want to loose them
again or if stored somewhere on my hard drive I just wanted
to know where and if I can change the name.
I've been having problems with OE (this may be why) from
another post, where I lost my original address book. Solved
that problem but didn't want to create another one with the
compacting.

Side question: I have seen remarks that elude to MS not doing
any more programming for OE since they want people to switch
to Windows Mail. True or False? My hubby has Vista/Windows
Mail and I don't like it. I like the flexibility of OE over Outlook,
but I miss having the Calendar and being able to have the
best of both worlds......................Bubey

"Bruce Hagen" <Nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23qsvY9DtIHA.1316@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Compacting only removes space taken up by moved or deleted messages. It
doesn't move any. Did you lose any messages?

Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact

About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE functioning well
and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages if you don't. When
you delete, or move messages, the space they had used remains until you
compact. Never touch anything until the compacting is finished.

See:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2

With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to problems it
caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100 OE closings, which
you should do, and don't touch anything until it has finished. If you
compact manually, at your convenience, this will also set the counter back
to zero. See this for more information:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact

If you are fully patched, you will also now see a copy of your dbx files
being copied to the Recycle Bin as BAK files. Should something go awry when
compacting, the messages can easily be restored from this backup. A manual
compact will also reset the counter in the registry back to zero now.

For more info, see the information outlined in red here:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2

To keep things running smooth, and for faster compacting:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt and you may lose mail. 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
Imperial Beach, CA


"Bubey" <catlov@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eesED6DtIHA.1436@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Where are the Compacted msg's stored? I understand
that it's important to say yes to compacting but where
do I find the old msg when I need to get to it?
I have goggled and googled but can't find an answer.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Retrieving lost compacted messages
    ... 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. ... 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. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
  • Re: OE6, ALL FOLDERS ARE GONE, SO ALL PAST EMAILS GONE, ?
    ... Drag the Inbox.dbx file out of the message store to the Desktop. ... You could have deleted it rather than dragging it to the Desktop, but if renaming the bak file failed, you could still run a retrieval tool on the dbx file on the Desktop. ... Repeat this for each folder with missing mail that you have a bak folder for. ... "To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
  • Re: Lost all My OE messages after windows update
    ... To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, ... the dbx files are by default marked as hidden. ... name as the bak file you want to restore but without the .bak. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
  • Re: Lost two months of messages from my inbox
    ... My recycle bin get emptied evry night when I switch off my computer. ... Inbox.bak file in the Recycle Bin or the message store? ... If you do not have a bak file, you can run DBXpress on the old Inbox. ... Did you find a corresponding bak file for that folder in either the ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
  • Re: OE6, ALL FOLDERS ARE GONE, SO ALL PAST EMAILS GONE, ?
    ... > Do the following for each folder in question. ... > of the message store to the Desktop. ... >> and a corresponding .bak file. ... >> same name as the bak file you want to restore but without the .bak. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)
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