Outlook Express has lost more than a year value of the mail - how can I get that back?

OE 6.00.2900.5512 xpsp 0804.3 - 2008 Win XP - SP3 and all updates applied.

I do NOT have an identity that is separate in OE, but in local folders, I put about 5 different folders and mail, as well as rules of mail from for address X, goes into the X folder. mail coming to address go to folder Y etc..

One of my folders (let's call it the X folder) have mail in there go back until 2008. There is, to the closing of OE, three days I received the message that to save space, OE wanted compact stuff, so I let him do as usual.

Everything continued to work as usual, but yesterday, something has gone wrong. I turned on the computer at around 10:00, received and responded to approximately five emails in X folder (as well as e-mails to and from other addresses/folders) and everything was great.

However, a few hours later, I noticed the missing emails. The last email now in the folder X is dated from 16/11/2009 and they age, which dates back to 24/02/2008 - but all the mail in the folder X dated between 11/16/2009 and disappeared, something like 900, maybe even a thousand or several messages, gone.

That's happened and how do I get it all back?

Thank you.

PS all other folders are normal and have letter of 2009 and 2010 in them.

Two reasons the most common for what you describe is disruption of the compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), or bloated folders. More about that below.

Why OE insists 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 methods:

If you use 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 folder bak on 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. Note the location and navigate on it in Explorer Windows or, copy and paste in start | Run.

In Windows XP, the .dbx files are by default marked as hidden. To view these files in the Solution Explorer, you must enable Show hidden files and folders under start | Control Panel | Folder options | View.

Close OE and in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx to the file missing or empty file, then 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. For example: 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 to the next step.

First of all, check if there is a bak file already in the message. If there is, and you have removed the dbx file, go ahead and rename it in dbx.

If it is not already in the message, open the trash and do a right-click on the file bak for the folder in question and click on restore. Open the message store up and replace the .bak by .dbx file extension. Close the message store and open OE. Messages must be in the folder.

If messages are restored successfully, you can go ahead and delete the old dbx file that you moved to the desktop.
 
If you have not then bak copies of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin:

DBXpress run in extract disc 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 finally are damaged. Create your own folders defined by the user for mail storage and move your mail to them. Empty the deleted items folder regularly. Keep user created folders under 300 MB, and also empty as is possible to default folders.

Disable analysis in your e-mail anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer of protection that devours the 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 the loss of messages. Your up-to-date A / V program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more information, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

And backup often.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB Freeware)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/default.aspx

Bruce Hagen
MS - MVP October 1, 2004 ~ September 30, 2010
Imperial Beach, CA

Tags: Windows

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