FAO Tom Koch - Corrupt OE6 inbox.dbx file

Hello,

I need some help please with my corrupt inbox.dbx file. I recently
tried to open it to edit one of the messages directly (don't ask!) and I only
changed a few characters in the file. Unsurprisingly, when I now open up OE6,
my inbox folder is totally empty. I tried changing removing the changes I'd
made to the file but to no avail.

I've tried various DBX extraction programs but they all fail, they all
think the inbox.dbx file is empty where in fact is has 25MB of messages in it.

Could somebody please, please help with this? Surely it must be possible
to convince OE6 to read the file?

Many thanks,

Lindsay

"Lindsay Wilson" Lindsay wrote in message
...
Hello,

I need some help please with my corrupt inbox.dbx file. I recently
tried to open it to edit one of the messages directly (don't ask!) and I
only
changed a few characters in the file. Unsurprisingly, when I now open up
OE6,
my inbox folder is totally empty. I tried changing removing the changes
I'd
made to the file but to no avail.

I've tried various DBX extraction programs but they all fail, they all
think the inbox.dbx file is empty where in fact is has 25MB of messages in
it.

Could somebody please, please help with this? Surely it must be possible
to convince OE6 to read the file?

Many thanks,

Lindsay

Don't store messages in the Inbox. It is the folder most apt to be
corrupted. As soon as you read them move them to user created folders.
Then compact the Inbox regularly.

Go to Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder and write down where OE
is storing its data.
Close OE.
Go there with Windows Explorer and move (not copy) Inbox.dbx to an empty
Windows
folder. With Win2K, WinXP and Win2K3 it will be a hidden file.

You can use either of these tools to extract the messages from the old DBX
file:

DBXtract ($5): http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/ although this tool is faster
and better:
DBXpress: ($25) http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
Do NOT extract to the desktop!
With a large file this can take a long time, so let it keep running.

The messages can be dragged from a Windows folder back into an OE folder in
OE's Folder List.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Answer in newsgroup. Don't send mail.

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. I have just tried DBXtract which works great on some
of the other files, but does not work with the inbox.dbx - the program simply
displays "Extracted 593 messages" and then stops. No messages are in fact
exctracted.

I tried deliberately opening and saving the inbox.dbx file on my other
computer (it's for screwing around with) and found just simply opening it in
Notepad and saving it again (not making any changes) renders it useless. The
file header is changed and all the bytes which were 0x00 in the working,
original file have been changed to 0x20. Not much help!

Any more ideas, please?

Thanks,

Lindsay

From another post by Frank Saunders:
The only thing I know with any hope of restoring them is DBXpress
(www.oehelp.com). Run in disk mode it will search the entire hard drive for
orphaned messages. You want to use it as soon as possible so that as few
messages get overwritten as possible. It will even recover messages from a
formatted drive, but it won't recover most attachments if any.

*************************
Backup before trying to change files.
Have you made a backup of the corrupted inbox file?
--
Ronald Sommer

"Lindsay Wilson" wrote in message
...
: Hello,
:
: Thanks for the reply. I have just tried DBXtract which works great on some
: of the other files, but does not work with the inbox.dbx - the program
simply
: displays "Extracted 593 messages" and then stops. No messages are in fact
: exctracted.
:
: I tried deliberately opening and saving the inbox.dbx file on my other
: computer (it's for screwing around with) and found just simply opening it
in
: Notepad and saving it again (not making any changes) renders it useless.
The
: file header is changed and all the bytes which were 0x00 in the working,
: original file have been changed to 0x20. Not much help!
:
: Any more ideas, please?
:
: Thanks,
:
: Lindsay
:

You /edited/ Inbox.dbx or a message in your OE Inbox folder?

A one-byte change in a DBX file can render the entire thing useless. If one
of Steve's tools can't recover anything from the DBX file, chances are that
everything's gone.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)


Lindsay Wilson wrote:
Hello,

I need some help please with my corrupt inbox.dbx file. I recently
tried to open it to edit one of the messages directly (don't ask!) and I
only changed a few characters in the file. Unsurprisingly, when I now open
up OE6, my inbox folder is totally empty. I tried changing removing the
changes I'd made to the file but to no avail.

I've tried various DBX extraction programs but they all fail, they all
think the inbox.dbx file is empty where in fact is has 25MB of messages in
it.

Could somebody please, please help with this? Surely it must be possible
to convince OE6 to read the file?

Many thanks,

Lindsay

She's emailed me about it.

steve

"PA Bear" wrote in message
...
You /edited/ Inbox.dbx or a message in your OE Inbox folder?

A one-byte change in a DBX file can render the entire thing useless. If
one of Steve's tools can't recover anything from the DBX file, chances are
that everything's gone.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)


Lindsay Wilson wrote:
Hello,

I need some help please with my corrupt inbox.dbx file. I recently
tried to open it to edit one of the messages directly (don't ask!) and I
only changed a few characters in the file. Unsurprisingly, when I now
open
up OE6, my inbox folder is totally empty. I tried changing removing the
changes I'd made to the file but to no avail.

I've tried various DBX extraction programs but they all fail, they
all
think the inbox.dbx file is empty where in fact is has 25MB of messages
in
it.

Could somebody please, please help with this? Surely it must be
possible
to convince OE6 to read the file?

Many thanks,

Lindsay