Can I restore messages lost

[Don Marshall]

While compacting the power went out and all my messages in the inbox are
gone. Can I get them back?
Help Please.
Don Marshall

[PA Bear]

Do you have a backup?

Why it happens:

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

Recovering data: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DBXtract
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXtend (additional functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtend/Default.aspx

DBXpress (faster, more powerful, with even greater functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx

OEX (OE Enhancement Program)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEX/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avoid Such Corruption in Future:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a manual
compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/files/maintain.htm.

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Security, Shell/User)

[Don Marshall]

I do not know, is this something I would force or is it automatic?
Thanks Don

"PA Bear" <PABe...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23AeHj7C%23FH...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[PA Bear]

No, there is no automatic backup of OE data in OE6 or earlier, Don. See the
links I posted to see if you can recover the lost data. See the other links
to avoid the problem in the future.

You can create your own backup manually or use one of several available
utilities (e.g., http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx) to do so. [If
OE Quick Backup is installed in the same folder as OETool
(http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/Default.aspx), you can use the latter's OEQB
button to backup your data.

References:

Backup & Restore OE Data
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

OE Files & Settings
http://www.insideoe.com/files/index.htm

OE Registry Keys
http://www.insideoe.com/files/regkeys.htm

Importing OE Data (all DBX files, including Folders.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importOE5

Importing a single DBX file
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx (last paragraph)

And as I'm feeling magnanimous today...

MVP "Majik", author of OEQB, writes:
<paste>
Backup and archiving are two separate things that people sometimes confuse
each other with. What it sounds like you are wanting to do is archive the
old message stores for possible later retrieval. Usually archiving is a way
to store the old messages, clear them from the current setup and basically
start over with empty files. Should you have a need to restore those files,
you can simply import them into OE.

Backup is done in case you have a problem and need to restore the data as it
was.

Backing up files should be done in a way that you understand what and where
the files are, how long you want to retain them, etc.

Two different forms of backup (others may have additional plans):

1) Make a backup of the current data. (Backup1)
The next time you backup the data, put it in a separate folder.
(Backup2)
The next time you backup the data, put it in a separate folder again.
(Backup3)
The next time you backup, overwrite Backup1
The next time you backup, overwrite Backup2
The next time you backup, overwrite Backup3
The next time you backup, overwrite Backup1
The next time you backup, overwrite Backup2
The next time you backup, overwrite Backup3
&c.

You always keep the last three backups for that just in case problem.

2) Make a backup to a different folder for each backup, never overwriting
the previous.

One idea: I've got several clients doing now for backing up their messages
is to create a folder within OE and name it the month (March2004) of the
backup. They can easily copy just that one DBX file and put it on CD then
delete it from within OE. When they need it, they can easily then make a
new folder of the same name, open it to create the dbx file required to get
it in the Folders.dbx file), close OE, then copy the backed up dbx file over
the existing one (removing the read only attribute) then restarting OE.
Their messages are there waiting on them then and when they finish, all they
have to do is delete the folder in OE. They won't be adding messages to that
dbx file so it's no big deal when they delete it.
</paste>
--
~PA Bear