recover lost email
István
I had a nasty problem with TB2.0. It stopped responding while
compacting. I had to force quit. When I started again, the folder
which was compacting became empty. A 6GB folder become empty. The
folder was so big because I was backing up my Gmail account. I tried
the tips from the Mozilla forum, but after I deleted all the msf
files, my other folders become unaccessible. All of them are bigger
than 2GB. I also upgraded to TB3.0, but it doesn't see my folders.
Compacting doesn't work on any of the corrupted folders.
Is there a smart tool which can handle big mbox files and recover my
mails? Or I should consider them lost?
Thanks!
Jari Fredriksson
Did you use IMAP when accessing GMail? If yes, the mail should be on the
server, and not lost.
If POP3, then yes, the mail may be lost. But I do not if it can be
recovered. I hope it can.
You will never know hunger.
Greywolf
> Hello,
>
> I had a nasty problem with TB2.0. It stopped responding while
> compacting.
That's normal, but when compacting smaller files, you wouldn't notice.
TB Compacts by deleting the "deleted" and "moved" files one at a time. A
6GB file would take at least an hour, IMO. I also suspect that the
system had trouble moving the files into and out of RAM/page file. That
would also result in TB "not responding". It was probably still running
in the background, however. Did you check with Taskmaster?
> I had to force quit. When I started again, the folder
> which was compacting became empty. A 6GB folder become empty.
Did you check whether the file still exists? If not, you're out of luck.
Otherwise, \you can get the contents back.
> The
> folder was so big because I was backing up my Gmail account.
Tip for future: create subfolders, set TB to Compact automatically, and
back up more often. Buy an external drive and backup software. Configure
it to back up TB (and other) files while you sleep.
> I tried
> the tips from the Mozilla forum, but after I deleted all the msf
> files, my other folders become unaccessible. All of them are bigger
> than 2GB. I also upgraded to TB3.0, but it doesn't see my folders.
> Compacting doesn't work on any of the corrupted folders.
> Is there a smart tool which can handle big mbox files and recover my
> mails? Or I should consider them lost?
>
> Thanks!
All those files (if they still exist) are plain text, so the problem
changes into Is there a text processor/reader that can handle such large
files? AFAIK, no, but there might be a tool for breaking large files
into smaller chunks (some NG posting programs do this automatically, so
the technology isn't new.) Search for "utility for segmenting large
files" or something like that.
Good luck.
wolf k.
Ron K.
An additional comment on the compacting. Thunderbird uses a temp file
during the compacting that is used to receive the kept messages. Then as
last step, the temp is renamed to that of the source mailbox. IIRC, the
word 'temp' is in the file name. If that exists, You will have ability to
recover that much mail if the source mailbox is gone.
--
Ron K.
Who is General Failure, and why is he searching my HDD?
Kernel Restore reported Major Error used BSOD to msg the enemy!
István
recover them. Let's say this part is solved. But the weird thing is
that my older folders became empty inside TB after I deleted the msf
files. The mbox files are in the profile at their original size, but
TB shows them as empty. Theoretically if I delete the msf file, TB
will recreate it at the next start and not empty the folder. There was
created a nstmp file of 2GB, but it acts like the rest of the
folders.
I'll will try with new profile, I guess that probably because of one
badly corrupted folder, the rest of the folders are unusable.
Greywolf
> I use POP3 with Gmail and the mails are still in the trash. I can
> recover them.
OK, make one or more subfolders, and Move those mails into it. Do _not_
leave them in the Trash.
> Let's say this part is solved. But the weird thing is
> that my older folders became empty inside TB after I deleted the msf
> files. The mbox files are in the profile at their original size, but
> TB shows them as empty.
Good, that means you should be able to recover them. First, rename them.
Second, do you have two profiles? If so, make sure you know which
profile is being used. Once you've ascertained that, move the renamed
files into the current profile. That should do it. If it doesn't wpork,
try copying them into Local Folders.
> Theoretically if I delete the msf file, TB
> will recreate it at the next start and not empty the folder.
Only if the "folder" (mbox file) is actually in the profile that TB is
accessing. TB normally accesses only one profile. {AFAIK, TB can access
more than one profile, but only if you set it to do so (via Manage
Identities.) I've never done this, so can't advise.}
> There was
> created a nstmp file of 2GB, but it acts like the rest of the
> folders.
> I'll will try with new profile, I guess that probably because of one
> badly corrupted folder, the rest of the folders are unusable.
I think there should be no problem. There might be an issue if the
account is not a "top level" account, in which case you could try
copying the renamed files into Local Folders (which is a real folder,
not a file.)
Unsolicited advice: make a suitable tree of folders and subfolders, and
Move incoming mails into them, either by hand or with a filter. That
way, the mboxes should never get too large.
HTH
wolf k.
Greywolf
[...]
> An additional comment on the compacting. Thunderbird uses a temp file
> during the compacting that is used to receive the kept messages. Then as
> last step, the temp is renamed to that of the source mailbox. IIRC, the
> word 'temp' is in the file name. If that exists, You will have ability
> to recover that much mail if the source mailbox is gone.
>
H'm. The deleted source mailbox should be recoverable with an undelete
utility that ignores the recycle folder. Anyone tried that?
cheers,
wolf k.
clay
Google around for a program:
tbrststs.exe
I've used it on many occasions to recover lost mbox or email that has
been "Shift+Deleted"
[from the readme]
This program was written because of a perceived need for it. The only
thing it does, is to copy the contents of an mbox file to another mbox
file with the same name, but with the extension .mbx while resetting the
value of X-Mozilla-Status to zero. The output file will be in the same
location and have the same file name as the source mbox file, but with
the extension .mbx added.
This program will also remove some minor corruptions. The only minor
corruption wich can be removed is the presence of data with the value of
x'00'. Given that such data should not occur in an mbox file, such data
will be skipped.
This program is an adapted copy of cut_mbox.
This program was written and compiled with the LCC-Win32 editor and
compiler (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lcc-win32/).
This program may be distributed freely and if distributed should be free
of charge. However, this text should always be included with the
distribution. If you wish to adapt this program and distribute it
yourself, you may do so, but add your text below.
As for installation, just put the executable wherever you feel it belongs.
A.P. Veening
Rotterdam, 30-08-2006
mboxc...@gmail.com
István
totally out of order. If I create a new profile and I move the folders
to a different drive, I can partially load the Inbox and partially
load the nstmp. If I keep the original profile, there is no way on
earth to load any folder from the Gmail account and there I have there
backups since 2004. I cannot give up on the profile, because I have
other accounts set up, with rules and tons of other stuff.
At this point my frustration is maximum....
István
right direction. The trick is that is I create a new profile, I must
use the original location of local folders. This way TB is reading and
rebuilding the index of all my folders. Than I just copy the newly
created msf files at the location where I keep my backup folders and
all my folders are accessible.
Lucky TB, I was close to give up on you, after being faithful 5
years... :)
PWM
I posted some time ago on this and never received a reply. I have a
problem similar to Istvan's though my lost or corrupted emails are on
IMAP, not POP3.
Problem is, I don't understand some of the technical replies. I'm not a
programmer. Ron K seems close to what I need, but where do I look for
the temp files he's talking about, how do I find them? It seems you're
talking about a view "behind" the system I can see. The lost emails are
very important. Help appreciated.
Paul
Avid Fan
> Got it. With Clay's program and by recreating the msf file I'm on the
> right direction. The trick is that is I create a new profile, I must
> use the original location of local folders. This way TB is reading and
> rebuilding the index of all my folders. Than I just copy the newly
> created msf files at the location where I keep my backup folders and
> all my folders are accessible.
> Lucky TB, I was close to give up on you, after being faithful 5
> years... :)
You have been given a warning - DO NOT IGNORE IT - BACK UP!
István
the folders in a different location than the default location, the
content of the folders becomes unaccessible, just blank. I'm out of
ideas. Do you have any?
István
installed, reindex/compact corruption happens for all the folders from
every account. This is not normal. I would like to know id it happens
only to me or it's a general problem...
clay
> If I move the default profile to a different drive than C: where TB is
> installed, reindex/compact corruption happens for all the folders from
> every account. This is not normal. I would like to know id it happens
> only to me or it's a general problem...
Whenever I set up a new computer (same as moving a profile, I would
think) I go through the motions of setting up a user and mail account.
Just put the minimum, usually bogus, info in the fields required to get
me through the setup.
Set it up with the profile wherever you want it.
Close Thunderbird.
Then I drop all the contents of the old/existing profile into the newly
created profile folder, replacing/overwriting everything in the folder.
Saves time if I remember to clean up/compact before copying.
Open Thunderbird and the new computer is the same as the old computer...
Has worked on windows to windows and windows to Linux setups.
Ron Hunter
That works well, and I use it, but if the reason for making a new
profile is to correct a strange bug, then that method probably isn't a
good choice as it will just replicate the problem into the new profile.
--
Ron Hunter - rphu...@charter.net
István
files in the default location of Local Folders everything works. If I
put the mbox files in any other location, at the first compact or
reindex, the mails become unaccessible.
I can't see the connection between indexing and the location of the
mbox files.
> Ron Hunter - rphun...@charter.net
clay
Yes it would.
If I had a clue which parts of the profile did what, I could drop a part
at a time until it broke. Then I would know the culprit.
Ron Hunter
ones come from either prefs.js being corrupt, or localstore.rdf being
corrupt. I would start with new ones there. Then proceed to
places.sqlite, and bookmarks.sqlite.
A corrupt password file is usually rather obvious.