Outlook Express "compressed" mail - where did it go?

[then...@gmail.com]

Hey,

My mother runs a B&B and takes most of her bookings over the internet,
and stores them in folders for each month of the year (for the dates
being booked) in Outlook Express 6. Today, the program asked her to
compress her emails to save some space - she clicked "Yes" and it
resulted in all her emails going "missing". None of the emails are
showing up, and if I use MailNavigator it recognises the size of the
folders are fairly large (by opening the .dbx file per folder) - but it
to, does not show the emails contained in the folder.

How do I go about retriving the "hidden" emails? They seem to be there,
as the folder size is still fairly large (espicaly Sent Items which is
huge - but doesnt show any contents). I googled it and a NewsGroup for
Outlook Express said I need to pay for an extractor to retrive the
emails (See:
http://groups.google.ie/group/microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress/browse_thread/thread/bbe059aec80ac920/26895751f4357a4e%2326895751f4357a4e).
Is there any alternative way, or will there suggested way actualy work
for my problem?

Thanks for all the help, its appreciated.

[Bruce Hagen]

The prompt was to compact, not compress.

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~

<then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155406705.4...@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

[then...@gmail.com]

Hi,

OK ill try the recovery tool. I already tried the free version of
DBXtract v4.50 but while it said it "Extracted Sucesfully" neither file
nor folder was actualy extracted.

Im going to try the patch you supplied and see if it works.

Thanks.

Regards,
Kevin

[then...@gmail.com]

Bruce Hagen wrote:
> Recovery tools:
>
> If you are using a fully patched version of XP/SP2, see:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069/en-us

Sorry but that didnt work. I installed, and re-started, opened Outlook
Express and no look. Im using a fully-up-to-date Windows XP SP2.
DBXtract (the free one) never worked originaly, tho it "appears" to be
extracting files it finds - they never appear in the folder it says its
extracting to..

[Bruce Hagen]

Use DBXpress in the Extract from Disk Mode, not Recovery. It will read
directly from your hard drive. DBXtract can't do this.

The patch will only help in the future as it will send a copy of all your
dbx files to the recycle bin where they can be recovered should something
like this happen again.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

<then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155411038....@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

[then...@gmail.com]

Hi,

I purchased that program, and installed it sucesfully. However, while
it recognises the size of the DBX file - its unable to extract any of
the messages which were "compacted". Its only able to extract new
messages (non "compacted"). It just says "Extract Complete from
foldername.dbx" (where foldername is the name of the folder). It takes
a while to "analyse"

Status box has this info:

Number of messages 3 (the new ones, non compacted)
26seconds
File Size: 79666556

So what do I do know?

Settings are;

INPUT
File: C:\Documents and Settings\Hilary O'Sullivan\Local
Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{FAF72420-D5ED-49A8-9708-29BF93B27C1A}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\

Filename: Ticked the folder

OUTPUT
Path: C:\Documents and Settings\Hilary O'Sullivan\Desktop\DBExtract\New
Folder\2006\Sent

SAVE OPTIONS
By Subject

----

So, thats my settings. Clearly the folder has the emails but for some
reason, they cant be accessed. Any ideas what I can do now?

[Bruce Hagen]

Are you using the Extraction From Disk and NOT Extraction From Files? The
latter will not work.

<paste>
Extraction from disk
This is a slow process, particularly with large hard drives, so be patient.

To extract from an entire hard drive, click on the Drive radio button to
select that option. Then specify the drive letter for the drive from which
you wish to extract.

Note that if you specify the output on the same drive from which you are
extracting, you will get a warning message, as you will be writing to the
same drive from which you are extracting, and will write over data that you
are trying to recover. You can do this, but the results are unpredictable
and permanent data loss from the disk clusters that are not linked to files
will result. The file system will be unaffected, however.

Note again that this is a slow process, as every byte on the hard drive is
analyzed. The program may indicate that it is not responding, but it is
likely just taking a long time. With older computers that don't have much
processing power or memory, one could get an out of memory error, if trying
to analyze a large drive.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

<then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155467093.0...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

[then...@gmail.com]

Bruce Hagen wrote:

> Note that if you specify the output on the same drive from which you are
> extracting, you will get a warning message, as you will be writing to the
> same drive from which you are extracting, and will write over data that you
> are trying to recover.

So are you saying that, in order for this to work correctly, I need to
have an extra hard drive to place the restored emails on? Also, how
would data be over-written if im specifying the output folder to be
different then the import?

>You can do this, but the results are unpredictable
> and permanent data loss from the disk clusters that are not linked to files
> will result. The file system will be unaffected, however.

So there is a risk that I could loose other data on my hard drive, just
from extracting files from the *.dbx?

[Bruce Hagen]

You don't need another drive. My point was that since you said it was
unsuccessful, I just wanted to make sure you were using the Extract From
Disk mode. This will recover messages directly from your hard drive. The
Extract From File mode won't work as it only extracts from the dbx files and
your messages are no longer there.

If you did use the Extract From Disk mode and were not successful, then I
would ask you to keep checking back to this thread. The author of the
program, Steve Chochran, is involved it this newsgroup and will see this
post eventually.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

<then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155485274.2...@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...

[then...@gmail.com]

Bruce Hagen wrote:
> You don't need another drive. My point was that since you said it was
> unsuccessful, I just wanted to make sure you were using the Extract From
> Disk mode. This will recover messages directly from your hard drive. The
> Extract From File mode won't work as it only extracts from the dbx files and
> your messages are no longer there.
>
> If you did use the Extract From Disk mode and were not successful, then I
> would ask you to keep checking back to this thread. The author of the
> program, Steve Chochran, is involved it this newsgroup and will see this
> post eventually.

I used "Extract From File". I wasnt aware that was what you were
refering to (thought it might be somewhere else) in your original
instructions. So I can use extract from disk, and write to a different
directory on the same drive without complications?

[Bruce Hagen]

<then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155486782.3...@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

I have not done this myself since I never lost any messages, but you
definitely have to use the Extract From Disk mode. As I understand, the
directions are supposed to be fairly clear on using the program.

The link I provided originally said to use Disk Mode. I will change this in
my canned reply to say Extract From Disk mode to avoid confusion in the
future. Good luck.

[Sully]

Bruce Hagen wrote:

> I have not done this myself since I never lost any messages, but you
> definitely have to use the Extract From Disk mode. As I understand, the
> directions are supposed to be fairly clear on using the program.
>
> The link I provided originally said to use Disk Mode. I will change this in
> my canned reply to say Extract From Disk mode to avoid confusion in the
> future. Good luck.
> --
> Bruce Hagen
> MS MVP - Outlook Express
> ~IB-CA~

Well I just tired that and after the warning message, I get this error:

Fatal Error:
Cannot creat drive handle C:\

[Bruce Hagen]

"Sully" <then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155488122....@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...

Well, you'll have to wait for someone with more hands on experience. I have
given this link to many dozens of people that posted back with positive
results. Your issue must be different than most people with this problem.

[Sully]

Bruce Hagen wrote:

>
> Well, you'll have to wait for someone with more hands on experience. I have
> given this link to many dozens of people that posted back with positive
> results. Your issue must be different than most people with this problem.
> --
> Bruce Hagen
> MS MVP - Outlook Express
> ~IB-CA~

Typical! Thats just our luck!

Well thanks for being so helpful :) You have been very kind. Keep up
the good work!

[Bruce Hagen]

You're welcome. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Someone should be able to
pick up where I left off, but Sundays can be slower that weekdays. Hang in
there.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Sully" <then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155489741.2...@74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com...

[Steve Cochran]

He finally emailed me, which he should have done to begin with.

steve

"Bruce Hagen" <Nos...@mymail.invalid> wrote in message
news:Oh9ZY4vv...@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

[Steve Cochran]

This is a forum for OE, not for DBXpress. Any questions on usage of
DBXpress should be taken to email with the author of the program (me). <G>

steve

<then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155467093.0...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

[Sully]

Steve Cochran wrote:
> This is a forum for OE, not for DBXpress. Any questions on usage of
> DBXpress should be taken to email with the author of the program (me). <G>
>
> steve

I have done, but as I said in the email:

I have full administrator privilages.

I set the output path to C:\.

I keep getting this error;

Fatal Error:
Cannot create drive handle C:\

Its really disapointing, as I was hoping this was the answer to all our
problems and would restore the emails (which are badly needed, as I
said earlier - we use outlook express for our reservation store -- so
without it, the place is havock!).

[Steve Cochran]

I'm still working on this with you via email. Hopefully we'll figure out
the problem.

steve

"Sully" <then...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155639701.8...@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...