Folders empty

I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another thread
here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going back
years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and use in and
out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent storage folders.
The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them so not overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe what he
is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about some XP update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have caused
that.
SG

How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not readable.

What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning, bloated
folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most common reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another
thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going back
years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and use in
and out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent storage
folders. The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them so not
overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe what
he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about some XP
update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have caused
that.
SG

Maybe our definition of a store folder is not the same. I am saying that of
the 20 folders listed under local folders 5 are now empty when viewed by
IE6; the normal way to access them.

They were small size,not bloated.

I would never interrupt compacting.

They were OK a few weeks ago, they are seldom used and only checked all
folders now as one was found empty when I went to retrieve a invite.

You gave me a idea though and looked at the folder using Windows Explorer
and found that the folder itself contained about what I expected to find
with messages stored. Could it be that my only identity currently available
is "main identity" as I deleted other identities recently.

If so do you know how I might recover the data found in the files.

SG



"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not readable.

What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning,
bloated folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most common
reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another
thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going back
years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and use in
and out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent storage
folders. The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them so not
overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe what
he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about some XP
update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have caused
that.
SG

Your store folder is the folder that contains all your dbx data files for
your OE identity. See: Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder for the
location. The folders in OE under Local Folders are either default OE
folders, or user created OE folders. You access them in OE. (I assume IE6
was a typo?).

You don't have to interrupt compacting. A minuscule power surge will do it
among other things. If you are working online when you compact, OE polling
for messages can cause it. (Always compact offline).

You seem to have found the message store for the current identity you are
using. Is this correct? Did you find other identities and store folders, or
just the one?

Did you fine the dbx file for the folder with the missing messages? What is
the size of it? Do you see any bak files for the folder with the missing
messages in either the message store or the Recycle Bin?

You can restore a bak file, and a dbx file as follows, assuming they still
contain data.

For a dbx file:

In the message store in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing folder and drag it to the Desktop at the top of the folder tree.
Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on your
Desktop. Open the new folder and then close OE. (You must do this). Go back
to Windows Explorer and Click Desktop and drag the file from the Desktop to
the OE store folder that you clicked on to reveal the .dbx files. Prompt -
"Do you want to overwrite......."? Click Yes.

*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store folder from it's default
location on drive C to another drive, drag the dbx file to a location on
that drive and not the Desktop.

For a bak file:

All e-mail items may be missing when you start Outlook Express 6 Service
Pack 1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing, or empty, folder
and 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. Eg: 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 on to
the next step.

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

If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore. Open the
message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to .dbx. Close
the message store and open OE. The messages should now be back in the
folder.

If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete the
old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
Maybe our definition of a store folder is not the same. I am saying that
of the 20 folders listed under local folders 5 are now empty when viewed
by IE6; the normal way to access them.

They were small size,not bloated.

I would never interrupt compacting.

They were OK a few weeks ago, they are seldom used and only checked all
folders now as one was found empty when I went to retrieve a invite.

You gave me a idea though and looked at the folder using Windows Explorer
and found that the folder itself contained about what I expected to find
with messages stored. Could it be that my only identity currently
available is "main identity" as I deleted other identities recently.

If so do you know how I might recover the data found in the files.

SG



"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not readable.

What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning,
bloated folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most common
reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another
thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going back
years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and use in
and out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent storage
folders. The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them so not
overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe what
he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about some XP
update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have caused
that.
SG

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Your store folder is the folder that contains all your dbx data files for
your OE identity. See: Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder for
the location. The folders in OE under Local Folders are either default OE
folders, or user created OE folders. You access them in OE. (I assume IE6
was a typo?).

You don't have to interrupt compacting. A minuscule power surge will do it
among other things. If you are working online when you compact, OE polling
for messages can cause it. (Always compact offline).
I might have been on line and it could have polled. Sorry just do not know
but it explains problem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You seem to have found the message store for the current identity you are
using. Is this correct? Did you find other identities and store folders,
or just the one?
NO but I do have a backup on external HD, will xfer back, remove read only,
and try from there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you fine the dbx file for the folder with the missing messages? What
is the size of it? Do you see any bak files for the folder with the
missing messages in either the message store or the Recycle Bin?

You can restore a bak file, and a dbx file as follows, assuming they still
contain data.
Will try your procedure below after restoring from backup drive. Will take
my time as do not want to slip and lose data.
Thank you very much for help.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a dbx file:

In the message store in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing folder and drag it to the Desktop at the top of the folder tree.
Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on your
Desktop. Open the new folder and then close OE. (You must do this). Go
back to Windows Explorer and Click Desktop and drag the file from the
Desktop to the OE store folder that you clicked on to reveal the .dbx
files. Prompt - "Do you want to overwrite......."? Click Yes.

*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store folder from it's
default location on drive C to another drive, drag the dbx file to a
location on that drive and not the Desktop.

For a bak file:

All e-mail items may be missing when you start Outlook Express 6 Service
Pack 1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing, or empty,
folder and 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. Eg: 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
on to the next step.

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

If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore. Open
the message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to .dbx.
Close the message store and open OE. The messages should now be back in
the folder.

If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete the
old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
Maybe our definition of a store folder is not the same. I am saying that
of the 20 folders listed under local folders 5 are now empty when viewed
by IE6; the normal way to access them.

They were small size,not bloated.

I would never interrupt compacting.

They were OK a few weeks ago, they are seldom used and only checked all
folders now as one was found empty when I went to retrieve a invite.

You gave me a idea though and looked at the folder using Windows Explorer
and found that the folder itself contained about what I expected to find
with messages stored. Could it be that my only identity currently
available is "main identity" as I deleted other identities recently.

If so do you know how I might recover the data found in the files.

SG



"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not readable.

What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning,
bloated folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most
common reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another
thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going
back years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and
use in and out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent
storage folders. The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them so
not overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe
what he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about
some XP update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have
caused that.
SG

shakey

Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced
Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files
" is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second
item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide
extensions for known file types" is not checked.

You may be able to recover your "lost" messages using an inexpensive
third party programme. Details of DBXtract in link cost $5 may help with
lost messages if the corrupted inbox is still on your computer.

The next paragraph was written with the Inbox in mind. However, if you
search for "*.dbx" you can apply the aproach to all folders.

However, check first that the corrupted inbox is there. Enter Windows
Explorer. Search My Computer drive with "inbo*.dbx" without quotes
as the search criteria and see if you can find more than one folder.
Note the date / time stamp on the files and the older folder will
contain
your missing messages. The original inbox will appear as inbox. dbx.
The next as inbox (01) dbx, then inbox (02) dbx etc. The file extension
can also appear as .dbt i.e. a temporary folder.

http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone

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

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



shakey wrote:
"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Your store folder is the folder that contains all your dbx data
files for your OE identity. See: Tools | Options | Maintenance |
Store Folder for the location. The folders in OE under Local Folders
are either default OE folders, or user created OE folders. You
access them in OE. (I assume IE6 was a typo?).

You don't have to interrupt compacting. A minuscule power surge will
do it among other things. If you are working online when you
compact, OE polling for messages can cause it. (Always compact
offline).
I might have been on line and it could have polled. Sorry just do not
know but it explains problem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You seem to have found the message store for the current identity
you are using. Is this correct? Did you find other identities and
store folders, or just the one?
NO but I do have a backup on external HD, will xfer back, remove read
only, and try from there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you fine the dbx file for the folder with the missing messages?
What is the size of it? Do you see any bak files for the folder with
the missing messages in either the message store or the Recycle Bin?

You can restore a bak file, and a dbx file as follows, assuming they
still contain data.
Will try your procedure below after restoring from backup drive. Will
take my time as do not want to slip and lose data.
Thank you very much for help.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a dbx file:

In the message store in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for
the missing folder and drag it to the Desktop at the top of the
folder tree. Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name
as the one on your Desktop. Open the new folder and then close OE.
(You must do this). Go back to Windows Explorer and Click Desktop
and drag the file from the Desktop to the OE store folder that you
clicked on to reveal the .dbx files. Prompt - "Do you want to
overwrite......."? Click Yes. *Note* If you have moved the Outlook
Express store folder from it's
default location on drive C to another drive, drag the dbx file to a
location on that drive and not the Desktop.

For a bak file:

All e-mail items may be missing when you start Outlook Express 6
Service Pack 1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing, or empty,
folder and 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. Eg: 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 on to the next step.

First, check if there is a bak file already in the message store. If
there is, and you removed the dbx file, go ahead and rename it to
dbx. If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin
and
right click on the bak file for the folder in question and click
Restore. Open the message store back up and change the file
extension from .bak to .dbx. Close the message store and open OE.
The messages should now be back in the folder.

If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and
delete the old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
Maybe our definition of a store folder is not the same. I am saying
that of the 20 folders listed under local folders 5 are now empty
when viewed by IE6; the normal way to access them.

They were small size,not bloated.

I would never interrupt compacting.

They were OK a few weeks ago, they are seldom used and only checked
all folders now as one was found empty when I went to retrieve a
invite. You gave me a idea though and looked at the folder using
Windows
Explorer and found that the folder itself contained about what I
expected to find with messages stored. Could it be that my only
identity currently available is "main identity" as I deleted other
identities recently. If so do you know how I might recover the data
found in the files.

SG



"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not
readable. What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning,
bloated folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most
common reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in
another thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find
that approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others
OK going back years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version
ending in 5512 and use in and out box only for immediate viewing
then move to permanent storage folders. The empty folders only
had 5 or so messages in them so not overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but
maybe what he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for
worry about some XP update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have
caused that.
SG

"shakey" ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌ/ÓÏÏÂÝÉÌÁ × ÎÏ×ÏÓÔÑÈ ÓÌÅÄÕÀÝÅÅ:
...

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Your store folder is the folder that contains all your dbx data files for
your OE identity. See: Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder for
the location. The folders in OE under Local Folders are either default OE
folders, or user created OE folders. You access them in OE. (I assume IE6
was a typo?).

You don't have to interrupt compacting. A minuscule power surge will do
it among other things. If you are working online when you compact, OE
polling for messages can cause it. (Always compact offline).
I might have been on line and it could have polled. Sorry just do not know
but it explains problem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You seem to have found the message store for the current identity you are
using. Is this correct? Did you find other identities and store folders,
or just the one?
NO but I do have a backup on external HD, will xfer back, remove read
only, and try from there.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you fine the dbx file for the folder with the missing messages? What
is the size of it? Do you see any bak files for the folder with the
missing messages in either the message store or the Recycle Bin?

You can restore a bak file, and a dbx file as follows, assuming they
still contain data.
Will try your procedure below after restoring from backup drive. Will take
my time as do not want to slip and lose data.
Thank you very much for help.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a dbx file:

In the message store in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing folder and drag it to the Desktop at the top of the folder tree.
Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on your
Desktop. Open the new folder and then close OE. (You must do this). Go
back to Windows Explorer and Click Desktop and drag the file from the
Desktop to the OE store folder that you clicked on to reveal the .dbx
files. Prompt - "Do you want to overwrite......."? Click Yes.

*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store folder from it's
default location on drive C to another drive, drag the dbx file to a
location on that drive and not the Desktop.

For a bak file:

All e-mail items may be missing when you start Outlook Express 6 Service
Pack 1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing, or empty,
folder and 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. Eg:
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 on to the next step.

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

If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore. Open
the message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to
.dbx. Close the message store and open OE. The messages should now be
back in the folder.

If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete
the old dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
Maybe our definition of a store folder is not the same. I am saying that
of the 20 folders listed under local folders 5 are now empty when viewed
by IE6; the normal way to access them.

They were small size,not bloated.

I would never interrupt compacting.

They were OK a few weeks ago, they are seldom used and only checked all
folders now as one was found empty when I went to retrieve a invite.

You gave me a idea though and looked at the folder using Windows
Explorer and found that the folder itself contained about what I
expected to find with messages stored. Could it be that my only identity
currently available is "main identity" as I deleted other identities
recently.

If so do you know how I might recover the data found in the files.

SG



"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not readable.

What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning,
bloated folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most
common reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another
thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going
back years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and
use in and out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent
storage folders. The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them
so not overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe
what he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about
some XP update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have
caused that.
SG