Inbox contents simply vanished

I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff from the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win 98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older messages in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode has the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application

Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file
simply
vanishing.

Why it happens:

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/probl...s.htm#mailgone
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx

Avoiding Such Corruption in Future (Win9x):

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Disable Background Compacting and frequently perform a manual compact of
all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:

QP
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
/QP
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...02111812533106
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/


Larry wrote:
... But it's still a mystery how this happened.

OE's dbx file structure is very fragile and has been prone to corruption
from its conception. In Windows Mail in Vista, the file structure was
replaced and each message is saved as its own eml file. Unfortunately, while
they fixed that issue, they screwed up numerous other things, and Windows
Mail is all but being abandoned already.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff from the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as
e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I
restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win 98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I
allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older messages in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode has
the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually
while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application

Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file
simply
vanishing.

I downloaded the Macallan Outlook Express Extraction and it doesn't offer
any instructions or anything. There's no indication of how to go about
fixing a damaged .dbx file.

The Inbox.dbx is currently working normally, that is, further e-mail I've
received is my Inbox. Does that mean the Inbox.dbx is working correctly on
some e-mails, while the older e-mails in it are corrupted? What actually
happens to the .dbx file when the Outlook Express Extraction is run on it?

Another odd thing. When I click on any .dbx file in the Outlook Express
folder, even the smaller ones, I'm prompted to open it with WordPad instead
of NotePad. Then when I open it, it's nothing but squares. No legible
characters. As I remember from the past, when I would open a .dbx file I
would see all the e-mail messages that were in the folder represented by
that file.

However, in the OE application itself, all my folders (except for the
disappeared messages from the Inbox) are operating normally.




"Larry" wrote in message
...
I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff from
the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as
e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I
restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I
regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win 98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I
allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older messages
in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode has
the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually
while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in
the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch
anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a
redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application

Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file
simply
vanishing.

I just went back through all your posts. How large is this Inbox? An empty
Inbox is 59KB. I noted that you mentioned "small", "a couple hundred KB". I
don't know how much mail constitutes 4 weeks worth, but unless they are all
text, a couple hundred KB isn't very much.

I can't help with instructions for Macallan. What do you have in the message
store right now? An Inbox.dbx with the missing messages, and a new
Inbox(1).dbx that you are currently using? Or do you only have one
Inbox.dbx? If only one, that is a whole new ball game, and one you're likely
to lose.

From what I remember reading here in the past, I believe you need to close
OE and then rename the old Inbox to say, Inboxold.dbx. Then drag it to the
desktop and work on it there, but this just fragmented memories.

If you click on a dbx file to open, only Outlook Express can read it. With
Notepad, you will see somewhat meaningless letters and numbers. If they are
all zeros, I believe the file is empty. WordPad is not meant to open them at
all.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...

I downloaded the Macallan Outlook Express Extraction and it doesn't offer
any instructions or anything. There's no indication of how to go about
fixing a damaged .dbx file.

The Inbox.dbx is currently working normally, that is, further e-mail I've
received is my Inbox. Does that mean the Inbox.dbx is working correctly
on
some e-mails, while the older e-mails in it are corrupted? What actually
happens to the .dbx file when the Outlook Express Extraction is run on it?

Another odd thing. When I click on any .dbx file in the Outlook Express
folder, even the smaller ones, I'm prompted to open it with WordPad
instead
of NotePad. Then when I open it, it's nothing but squares. No legible
characters. As I remember from the past, when I would open a .dbx file I
would see all the e-mail messages that were in the folder represented by
that file.

However, in the OE application itself, all my folders (except for the
disappeared messages from the Inbox) are operating normally.




"Larry" wrote in message
...
I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff from
the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as
e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background
compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I
restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I
regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win 98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I
allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older messages
in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard
drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages
checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when
you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode has
the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually
while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in
the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch
anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a
redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just
vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application

Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file
simply
vanishing.

You can get Outlook Express.dbx viewers. Just google it for several
options, some freeware.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
I just went back through all your posts. How large is this Inbox? An empty
Inbox is 59KB. I noted that you mentioned "small", "a couple hundred KB". I
don't know how much mail constitutes 4 weeks worth, but unless they are all
text, a couple hundred KB isn't very much.

I can't help with instructions for Macallan. What do you have in the message
store right now? An Inbox.dbx with the missing messages, and a new
Inbox(1).dbx that you are currently using? Or do you only have one
Inbox.dbx? If only one, that is a whole new ball game, and one you're likely
to lose.

From what I remember reading here in the past, I believe you need to close
OE and then rename the old Inbox to say, Inboxold.dbx. Then drag it to the
desktop and work on it there, but this just fragmented memories.

If you click on a dbx file to open, only Outlook Express can read it. With
Notepad, you will see somewhat meaningless letters and numbers. If they are
all zeros, I believe the file is empty. WordPad is not meant to open them at
all.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...

I downloaded the Macallan Outlook Express Extraction and it doesn't offer
any instructions or anything. There's no indication of how to go about
fixing a damaged .dbx file.

The Inbox.dbx is currently working normally, that is, further e-mail I've
received is my Inbox. Does that mean the Inbox.dbx is working correctly
on
some e-mails, while the older e-mails in it are corrupted? What actually
happens to the .dbx file when the Outlook Express Extraction is run on it?

Another odd thing. When I click on any .dbx file in the Outlook Express
folder, even the smaller ones, I'm prompted to open it with WordPad
instead
of NotePad. Then when I open it, it's nothing but squares. No legible
characters. As I remember from the past, when I would open a .dbx file I
would see all the e-mail messages that were in the folder represented by
that file.

However, in the OE application itself, all my folders (except for the
disappeared messages from the Inbox) are operating normally.




"Larry" wrote in message
...
I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff from
the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as
e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background
compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I
restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I
regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win 98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I
allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older messages
in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard
drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages
checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when
you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode has
the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually
while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in
the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch
anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a
redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just
vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application

Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file
simply
vanishing.

Strange things going on (see below), but I think the problem may be
solvable.

1. The Inbox, prior to the problem, would have been around 80 or 90 MB. As
I said, my procedure is to let it build up for a few weeks and then move a
lot of it into a custom folder. But after the problem occurred, the Inbox
was 130 KB. After I received e-mails since this morning, it went up to
about 400 KB.

2. But here's the strange thing: just now I looked again, and the only
Inbox.dbx in the OE folder has 1.24 MB!!! So somehow it's returned.

3. Yet the Inbox in the OE application is still just the e-mails received
since this morning.

4. When I click on a .dbx file (no matter how small), I get a message
saying "this is too large to open with NOtepad. Open with Wordpad?" When I
say yes, it opens in Wordpad, and the top of the file is just box
characters, but if I scroll down a ways, there is e-mails, html code and so
on.

5. However, if I do the same with Inbox.dbx, all it seems to show is
today's handful of e-mails, rather than the vast store of e-mails from the
last month. Yet the file has 1.24 MB.





"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
I just went back through all your posts. How large is this Inbox? An empty
Inbox is 59KB. I noted that you mentioned "small", "a couple hundred KB".
I
don't know how much mail constitutes 4 weeks worth, but unless they are
all
text, a couple hundred KB isn't very much.

I can't help with instructions for Macallan. What do you have in the
message
store right now? An Inbox.dbx with the missing messages, and a new
Inbox(1).dbx that you are currently using? Or do you only have one
Inbox.dbx? If only one, that is a whole new ball game, and one you're
likely
to lose.

From what I remember reading here in the past, I believe you need to close
OE and then rename the old Inbox to say, Inboxold.dbx. Then drag it to the
desktop and work on it there, but this just fragmented memories.

If you click on a dbx file to open, only Outlook Express can read it. With
Notepad, you will see somewhat meaningless letters and numbers. If they
are
all zeros, I believe the file is empty. WordPad is not meant to open them
at
all.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...

I downloaded the Macallan Outlook Express Extraction and it doesn't
offer
any instructions or anything. There's no indication of how to go about
fixing a damaged .dbx file.

The Inbox.dbx is currently working normally, that is, further e-mail
I've
received is my Inbox. Does that mean the Inbox.dbx is working correctly
on
some e-mails, while the older e-mails in it are corrupted? What
actually
happens to the .dbx file when the Outlook Express Extraction is run on
it?

Another odd thing. When I click on any .dbx file in the Outlook Express
folder, even the smaller ones, I'm prompted to open it with WordPad
instead
of NotePad. Then when I open it, it's nothing but squares. No legible
characters. As I remember from the past, when I would open a .dbx file
I
would see all the e-mail messages that were in the folder represented by
that file.

However, in the OE application itself, all my folders (except for the
disappeared messages from the Inbox) are operating normally.




"Larry" wrote in message
...
I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff from
the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as
e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background
compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I
restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I
regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win
98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I
allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older
messages
in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a
saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard
drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages
checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when
you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was
removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode
has
the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually
while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no
folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in
the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch
anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a
redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just
vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in
there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application


Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to
keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge file
simply
vanishing.

This gets stranger by the moment and is truly unique. (Unless you are
looking in message store folders for two different identities). I have never
seen the size of a dbx file get small, and then large again to the extent
you say. If it was me, this is what I would do.

Create a new folder and move all your existing Inbox mail to it so you at
least don't lose that.

Close OE and in Windows Explorer, drag the Inbox.dbx file to the Desktop.
Rename the Inbox.dbx file on the Desktop to Saved Mail.dbx. A new, empty
Inbox will be created when you open OE.

Open OE and create a folder called Saved Mail. Open the new folder and then
close OE. (You must do this). Go back to Windows Explorer and expand the
path to the Message Store folder for your OE identity, but don't open it.
Click on the Desktop and drag the file from the Desktop in the right hand
pane to the OE store folder in the left pane. Prompt - "Do you want to
overwrite......."? Click Yes.

Do the messages appear in the Saved Mail folder? If not, drag it back out of
the message store to the Desktop for safe keeping while we figure out where
to go next.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA



"Larry" wrote in message
...


Strange things going on (see below), but I think the problem may be
solvable.

1. The Inbox, prior to the problem, would have been around 80 or 90 MB.
As
I said, my procedure is to let it build up for a few weeks and then move a
lot of it into a custom folder. But after the problem occurred, the Inbox
was 130 KB. After I received e-mails since this morning, it went up to
about 400 KB.

2. But here's the strange thing: just now I looked again, and the only
Inbox.dbx in the OE folder has 1.24 MB!!! So somehow it's returned.

3. Yet the Inbox in the OE application is still just the e-mails received
since this morning.

4. When I click on a .dbx file (no matter how small), I get a message
saying "this is too large to open with NOtepad. Open with Wordpad?" When
I
say yes, it opens in Wordpad, and the top of the file is just box
characters, but if I scroll down a ways, there is e-mails, html code and
so
on.

5. However, if I do the same with Inbox.dbx, all it seems to show is
today's handful of e-mails, rather than the vast store of e-mails from the
last month. Yet the file has 1.24 MB.





"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
I just went back through all your posts. How large is this Inbox? An
empty
Inbox is 59KB. I noted that you mentioned "small", "a couple hundred KB".
I
don't know how much mail constitutes 4 weeks worth, but unless they are
all
text, a couple hundred KB isn't very much.

I can't help with instructions for Macallan. What do you have in the
message
store right now? An Inbox.dbx with the missing messages, and a new
Inbox(1).dbx that you are currently using? Or do you only have one
Inbox.dbx? If only one, that is a whole new ball game, and one you're
likely
to lose.

From what I remember reading here in the past, I believe you need to
close
OE and then rename the old Inbox to say, Inboxold.dbx. Then drag it to
the
desktop and work on it there, but this just fragmented memories.

If you click on a dbx file to open, only Outlook Express can read it.
With
Notepad, you will see somewhat meaningless letters and numbers. If they
are
all zeros, I believe the file is empty. WordPad is not meant to open them
at
all.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...

I downloaded the Macallan Outlook Express Extraction and it doesn't
offer
any instructions or anything. There's no indication of how to go about
fixing a damaged .dbx file.

The Inbox.dbx is currently working normally, that is, further e-mail
I've
received is my Inbox. Does that mean the Inbox.dbx is working
correctly
on
some e-mails, while the older e-mails in it are corrupted? What
actually
happens to the .dbx file when the Outlook Express Extraction is run on
it?

Another odd thing. When I click on any .dbx file in the Outlook
Express
folder, even the smaller ones, I'm prompted to open it with WordPad
instead
of NotePad. Then when I open it, it's nothing but squares. No legible
characters. As I remember from the past, when I would open a .dbx file
I
would see all the e-mail messages that were in the folder represented
by
that file.

However, in the OE application itself, all my folders (except for the
disappeared messages from the Inbox) are operating normally.




"Larry" wrote in message
...
I compact manually every few weeks, usually after I've moved stuff
from
the
Inbox and Sent folder into my custom folders.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

This is news to me. I've never heard of saved files on a computer
hard
drive simply vanishing, short of a hard drive failure.

I will check out the programs you recommend. Thank you.

Larry


"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If background compacting was not checked, how often do you compact
manually?
Moving or deleting messages does not retrieve wasted space until you
compact.

Bloated folders and interrupting compacting are the two most common
reasons
for losing messages, but other things can cause it as well, such as
e-mail
scanning.

Bottom line is that you should backup OE daily if you value your
messages.

At this point, the reason is moot. If you are sure background
compacting
was
not involved, then any of these programs may retrieve your messages.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
Yes, Show All Messages is checked and nothing else is checked.

The way this happened was: my computer froze last night and I
restarted
it
by pressing the external restart button on the tower, which I
regularly
do
when the computer freezes, which happens fairly frequently (Win
98!).
But
there was no compacting of OE going on at the time.

And yes, I regularly follow all those steps for OE maintenance. I
allow
up
to a month of messages in Inbox and Sent box, keeping older
messages
in
my
own custom folders.

But it's still a mystery how this happened. I have never had a
saved
file
on the hard drive simply become empty. Could it indicate a hard
drive
failure?

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
While in the Inbox, View | Current View. Is Show All Messages
checked
and
nothing else?

If that is the case, and the Inbox.dbx file is empty, (130KB is
essentially
empty), In Tools | Options | Maintenance, is: Compact messages in
background
checked? If so, OE was probably compacting the message store when
you
shut
OE down, causing the loss of messages. (Why this option was
removed
with
XP?SP2).

Should this be the case, DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode
has
the
best
chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx


General precautions for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become
corrupt. 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually
while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no
folders
are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online
in
the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch
anything
until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a
redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of
problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V
program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in
background
and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.

And backup often.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/

This is a great two click program:

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Larry" wrote in message
...
In OE 6, Windows 98, the entire contents of the Inbox just
vanished
after
restarting computer. There were about 4 weeks of e-mail in
there.

Other folders do not seem to be affected.

I looked in the Outlook Express folder on my hard drive, and
the
Inbox
file
at this address:

C:\WINDOWS\Application


Data\Identities\{9226D728-E116-11DA-8D61-00045A5FABE0}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express

was down to something like 130 KB, containing just a lot of
unreadable
code.

I normally move Inbox contents to other folders regularly to
keep
Inbox
from
getting too large.

I've never seen anything like this. The contents of a huge
file
simply
vanishing.

Bruce,

I've done all the steps.

Nothing appears in the Saved Mail folder. Also, when I open Saved Mail.dbx,
it's the same as befo even though the file is 1.24 MB, there are just
the e-mails from yesterday.

I've moved the Saved Mail.dbx back to Desktop.

Until tomorrow.

Many thanks for your help.

Larry




"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
This gets stranger by the moment and is truly unique. (Unless you are
looking in message store folders for two different identities). I have
never
seen the size of a dbx file get small, and then large again to the extent
you say. If it was me, this is what I would do.

Create a new folder and move all your existing Inbox mail to it so you at
least don't lose that.

Close OE and in Windows Explorer, drag the Inbox.dbx file to the Desktop.
Rename the Inbox.dbx file on the Desktop to Saved Mail.dbx. A new, empty
Inbox will be created when you open OE.

Open OE and create a folder called Saved Mail. Open the new folder and
then
close OE. (You must do this). Go back to Windows Explorer and expand the
path to the Message Store folder for your OE identity, but don't open it.
Click on the Desktop and drag the file from the Desktop in the right hand
pane to the OE store folder in the left pane. Prompt - "Do you want to
overwrite......."? Click Yes.

Do the messages appear in the Saved Mail folder? If not, drag it back out
of
the message store to the Desktop for safe keeping while we figure out
where
to go next.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA



"Larry" wrote in message
...


Strange things going on (see below), but I think the problem may be
solvable.

1. The Inbox, prior to the problem, would have been around 80 or 90 MB.
As
I said, my procedure is to let it build up for a few weeks and then move
a
lot of it into a custom folder. But after the problem occurred, the
Inbox
was 130 KB. After I received e-mails since this morning, it went up to
about 400 KB.

2. But here's the strange thing: just now I looked again, and the only
Inbox.dbx in the OE folder has 1.24 MB!!! So somehow it's returned.

3. Yet the Inbox in the OE application is still just the e-mails
received
since this morning.

4. When I click on a .dbx file (no matter how small), I get a message
saying "this is too large to open with NOtepad. Open with Wordpad?"
When
I
say yes, it opens in Wordpad, and the top of the file is just box
characters, but if I scroll down a ways, there is e-mails, html code and
so
on.

5. However, if I do the same with Inbox.dbx, all it seems to show is
today's handful of e-mails, rather than the vast store of e-mails from
the
last month. Yet the file has 1.24 MB.

I haven't been following this thread but this confuses me. How did you
determine the size of it when it was 400KB? And when it was 1.24 MB?

By seeing the size of the Inbox.dbx file in Windows Explorer.

2. Get any of the many programs to extract messages from .dbx files and
run
it

I did try OE Extract and it doesn't do anything and provides no
instructions, so I guess one of the nonfreeware apps is next.


"dadiOH" wrote in message
...
Larry wrote:
Strange things going on (see below), but I think the problem may be
solvable.

1. The Inbox, prior to the problem, would have been around 80 or 90
MB. As I said, my procedure is to let it build up for a few weeks
and then move a lot of it into a custom folder. But after the
problem occurred, the Inbox was 130 KB. After I received e-mails
since this morning, it went up to about 400 KB.

2. But here's the strange thing: just now I looked again, and the
only Inbox.dbx in the OE folder has 1.24 MB!!! So somehow it's
returned.

I haven't been following this thread but this confuses me. How did you
determine the size of it when it was 400KB? And when it was 1.24 MB?
________________

3. Yet the Inbox in the OE application is still just the e-mails
received since this morning.

Because it is screwed up. That is, whatever methodology used to determine
messages start/end and/or count is wrong. Like a file that has its EOF in
the wrong place/
__________________

This is what I'd do...

1. Save a copy of Inbox.dbx somewhere

2. Get any of the many programs to extract messages from .dbx files and
run
it

3. If it is successful in getting your messages, save them as MAIL (
i.e.,
*.eml - separate, discrete messages) in a folder on your desktop.

If not successful, forget what follows.

4. Delete Inbox.dbx using Explorer

5. Open OE and display its Inbox - which should now be empty

6. Select all the recovered email messages in your temporary desktop
folder
and drag them to the OE pane where they would normally be displayed.

7. Close OE

dadiOH