Another Lost Inbox

[woderick]

I have just ‘lost’ the entire contents of my OE6 Inbox and Deleted Items. The other user’s files are intact.
I was doing a search using the find facility, for a .wmv attachment if it’s relevant and when I returned to the Inbox, there it was gone !
I have done an Adaware, Spybot, and McAfee scan and downloaded MailNavigator (as a result of a search here) but can’t find anything other than the four remaining entries in the inbox. Those received since the event that is.
Although recovery would be nice it’s not crucial, rather I’m more curious as to what could have happened.
XP pro, OE6 both fully updated if the auto update is to be believed.
P.S. All my Mozilla tabs and Bookmarks have gone as well (just found this)

[mazzy1026]

Not sure what the cause of this is but you should try running a search for all the DBF files on your system (these are the files that contain all your email and folders etc). If you recognise any of the names then you need to look where they are stored. Then go into OE and choose Tools, Options, Maintenance Tab, Store Folder - this is the folder that all your DBF files will be stored, If you dont recognise it, change it to the location of the stored DBF files when you ran the search.

Regards

Maz

[woderick]

I presume you meant .dbx files.
Done that, all it finds are the current files not the ones lost. This is what MailNavigator found as well. I just find it difficult to believe that about 900 mails can just go. Most things, even when deleted leave a trace or are recoverable.

[fobotcso]

Wodewick, let's assume you're using Windows XP.

Your Inbox.dbx should be here:

C: \Documents and Settings\fobotcso\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{.......}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.

If it doesn't exist disregard the rest of this...:sad:

If it's there, carry on.

In OE, create a new Inbox Folder if it hasn't already re-appeared automatically.

Go back to the above folder and there should now be a new file - Inbox.dbx(1).

Delete it

Rename the old file from Inbox.dbx to Inbox.dbx(1)

You should now be able to read the files in your Inbox in OE.

PS: 900 e-mails in one folder is asking rather a lot from OE and, anyway, losing them all in one go does rather point to the advisability of distributing them before backing them up.

But I have recently worked on a PC where the Inbox had 1300 e-mails and was 173MB in size. So, for the addition of just one e-mail, the whole 173MB had to be backed up - every time! :(

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

woderick,

In Windows Explorer go:

Tools >> Folder Options >> View:

Put a Checkmark on Show Hidden Files and Folders

Then remove the Checkmarks on Hide Extensions for Known File Types and Hide Protected Operating System Files [Recommended]

Then you can look though all the User Accounts listed in Documents and Settings in Windows Explorer for your Inbox.dbx

Take Care,

Richard

[mazzy1026]

sorry yeah DBX :}