Outlook Express - Deleted "Folders & Emails" -- Where do they go?

Hey,

OK following on from my problem with compacted emails, I used the
restore tool by Steve. It managed to extract thousands (literaly - 3538
to be exact) of emails! However, a lot of them date back as far as
2004. Where exactly do those files go? I deleted them from outlook
express (right click folder - Delete. Removed from Deleted Items
Folder also) but they still seem on the system? If I could just find
the location of all folders/emails from 2006 ONLY myself, id back them
up and put them on another blank HDD and run the tool on that so it
extracts the 2006 ones only.

Cheers for all the help

Regards,
Kevin

Until you Compact a folder, deleted messages aren't really deleted, they
are just marked for deletion.

Since you were trying to recover from a corrupted folder, Steve's
program played it safe and recovered everything that it could find.

What you can do is drag all the recovered mails to a new empty OE
folder. Then sort on the date column to sort on that field. Then click
the first message that you want to delete and then Shift+click on the
last message that you want to delete. Those messages should now all be
highlighted. You can now delete them. Then compact the folder and they
will be gone forever.

--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm


"Sully" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey,

OK following on from my problem with compacted emails, I used the
restore tool by Steve. It managed to extract thousands (literaly -
3538
to be exact) of emails! However, a lot of them date back as far as
2004. Where exactly do those files go? I deleted them from outlook
express (right click folder - Delete. Removed from Deleted Items
Folder also) but they still seem on the system? If I could just find
the location of all folders/emails from 2006 ONLY myself, id back them
up and put them on another blank HDD and run the tool on that so it
extracts the 2006 ones only.

Cheers for all the help

Regards,
Kevin

See Michael's reply.

General OE Caveats:

- 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 [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a manual
compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown
your machine if Automatic Compacting is taking place.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Shell/User, Security), Aumha.org VSOP, DTS-L.org

Sully wrote:
Hey,

OK following on from my problem with compacted emails, I used the
restore tool by Steve. It managed to extract thousands (literaly - 3538
to be exact) of emails! However, a lot of them date back as far as
2004. Where exactly do those files go? I deleted them from outlook
express (right click folder - Delete. Removed from Deleted Items
Folder also) but they still seem on the system? If I could just find
the location of all folders/emails from 2006 ONLY myself, id back them
up and put them on another blank HDD and run the tool on that so it
extracts the 2006 ones only.

Cheers for all the help

Regards,
Kevin

PA Bear wrote:
See Michael's reply.

General OE Caveats:

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


I use Inbox just to receive emails. I store emails in sub-folders of
Inbox.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.


We do. We get lots of spam.

- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a manual
compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm


On SP2 but I never manual did it as I didnt think it was a requirement
(I mainly use Mozilla Thunderbird myself, and rarley OE - just for the
business)

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown
your machine if Automatic Compacting is taking place.


Ya that would of happened during the compacting as I thought she had
clicked some virus, so wanted to shut down immediately and work on it.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.

Unlikely.

--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Shell/User, Security), Aumha.org VSOP, DTS-L.org

Sully wrote:
Hey,

OK following on from my problem with compacted emails, I used the
restore tool by Steve. It managed to extract thousands (literaly - 3538
to be exact) of emails! However, a lot of them date back as far as
2004. Where exactly do those files go? I deleted them from outlook
express (right click folder - Delete. Removed from Deleted Items
Folder also) but they still seem on the system? If I could just find
the location of all folders/emails from 2006 ONLY myself, id back them
up and put them on another blank HDD and run the tool on that so it
extracts the 2006 ones only.

Cheers for all the help

Regards,
Kevin

You didn't check recover mode when you ran the program did you? If you did,
then run the program again.

You know you can click on a column in the message list in OE to sort by that
column don't you?

steve

"Sully" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey,

OK following on from my problem with compacted emails, I used the
restore tool by Steve. It managed to extract thousands (literaly - 3538
to be exact) of emails! However, a lot of them date back as far as
2004. Where exactly do those files go? I deleted them from outlook
express (right click folder - Delete. Removed from Deleted Items
Folder also) but they still seem on the system? If I could just find
the location of all folders/emails from 2006 ONLY myself, id back them
up and put them on another blank HDD and run the tool on that so it
extracts the 2006 ones only.

Cheers for all the help

Regards,
Kevin

Steve Cochran wrote:
You didn't check recover mode when you ran the program did you? If you did,
then run the program again.

You know you can click on a column in the message list in OE to sort by that
column don't you?

steve


Nope. Sorry about the email from my mother, I wasnt aware she was going
to email you. I think she is just a little frustrated that all her
emails disapeared as a result of Microsofts failure about this issue,
and that she paid for your program and it restored lots of emails - but
not all!

From what I can see, its got all emails from 2004/2005 - booking forms,
individual queries etc. However for 2006 -- it seem to have just got
the "Sent Items" and a few individual queries. No booking forms :S.

The technicans that were over in the house mainly deal with Microsoft
Outlook and were not aware of this problem occuring before, but he
tried importing all OE "damaged" DBX emails into a different identity
in OE to see if that would restore them - it didnt. We tried to open
them in Mail Navigator - wasnt able to open the emails but recognise
the folder size was large. Installed Microsoft Outlook, imported all
DBX files again seeing if that would restore it perhaps - but it didnt.
Then we started on the recovered emails by dropping them into a folder
in OE;- sorting by date, taking out all 2004 & 2005 and leaving 2006.
He noticed that a lot of emails were broken up into pieces (ie an email
was split up into segments and spread out as several emails with no
author / subject / date etc. Just a one-liner content from the email or
part of the header), or one email contained several other un-related
emails all in one with the headers all jumbeled up within it.

Also, some emails were missing such as the booking forms but also
replies from people. For example, all our emails to date have been
"replied" to so that OE quotes your messsage when I reply to you, and
visa-versa. This is normal, and we stored such responses in drafts
anyway. The restore program didnt restore all of these emails. In one
example, only 4 emails from the one person were found but if you looked
at the emails you could see at least 10 other emails quoted - but were
not restored. These were not deleted, they were there before OE became
corrupt.

Im thinking of just placing the infected DBX files into one big RAR
file, placing them on a blank HDD, and getting the program to run the
scan on that HDD and see what happens. I was hoping it wouldnt come
across 2004 & 2005 - but it seems it will because they were not deleted
after all. Its a pitty this program isnt able to determine the name of
the folder its scanning and then dividing it up like that, instead of
just throwing them all together. (Possible feature request? :P)

Cheers for all your help m8, it has very much been appreciated.

He noticed that a lot of emails were broken up into pieces (ie an email
was split up into segments and spread out as several emails with no
author / subject / date etc. Just a one-liner content from the email or
part of the header), or one email contained several other un-related
emails all in one with the headers all jumbeled up within it.

There's a big cluestick.

- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a
manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

On SP2 but I never manual did it as I didnt think it was a requirement

There's another one.
--
~PA Bear


Sully wrote:
Steve Cochran wrote:
You didn't check recover mode when you ran the program did you? If you
did, then run the program again.

You know you can click on a column in the message list in OE to sort by
that column don't you?

Nope. Sorry about the email from my mother, I wasnt aware she was going
to email you. I think she is just a little frustrated that all her
emails disapeared as a result of Microsofts failure about this issue,
and that she paid for your program and it restored lots of emails - but
not all!

From what I can see, its got all emails from 2004/2005 - booking forms,
individual queries etc. However for 2006 -- it seem to have just got
the "Sent Items" and a few individual queries. No booking forms :S.

The technicans that were over in the house mainly deal with Microsoft
Outlook and were not aware of this problem occuring before, but he
tried importing all OE "damaged" DBX emails into a different identity
in OE to see if that would restore them - it didnt. We tried to open
them in Mail Navigator - wasnt able to open the emails but recognise
the folder size was large. Installed Microsoft Outlook, imported all
DBX files again seeing if that would restore it perhaps - but it didnt.
Then we started on the recovered emails by dropping them into a folder
in OE;- sorting by date, taking out all 2004 & 2005 and leaving 2006.
He noticed that a lot of emails were broken up into pieces (ie an email
was split up into segments and spread out as several emails with no
author / subject / date etc. Just a one-liner content from the email or
part of the header), or one email contained several other un-related
emails all in one with the headers all jumbeled up within it.

Also, some emails were missing such as the booking forms but also
replies from people. For example, all our emails to date have been
"replied" to so that OE quotes your messsage when I reply to you, and
visa-versa. This is normal, and we stored such responses in drafts
anyway. The restore program didnt restore all of these emails. In one
example, only 4 emails from the one person were found but if you looked
at the emails you could see at least 10 other emails quoted - but were
not restored. These were not deleted, they were there before OE became
corrupt.

Im thinking of just placing the infected DBX files into one big RAR
file, placing them on a blank HDD, and getting the program to run the
scan on that HDD and see what happens. I was hoping it wouldnt come
across 2004 & 2005 - but it seems it will because they were not deleted
after all. Its a pitty this program isnt able to determine the name of
the folder its scanning and then dividing it up like that, instead of
just throwing them all together. (Possible feature request? :P)

Cheers for all your help m8, it has very much been appreciated.

PA Bear wrote:
He noticed that a lot of emails were broken up into pieces (ie an email
was split up into segments and spread out as several emails with no
author / subject / date etc. Just a one-liner content from the email or
part of the header), or one email contained several other un-related
emails all in one with the headers all jumbeled up within it.

There's a big cluestick.

- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform a
manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

On SP2 but I never manual did it as I didnt think it was a requirement

There's another one.
--
~PA Bear


And the clue reads to what?

I wasnt aware folders had to be compacted.

First clue: The DBX files may be so damaged that attempting to recover
anything useful may be fruitless.

Second clue: Not having compacted manually on a regular basis almost
certainly contributed to the damage cited above. (Ditto if the machine was
not fully patched at Windows Update.)

- WinXP SP2 only: Do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or
shutdown your machine if Automatic Compacting is taking place.

Ya that would of happened during the compacting as I thought she had
clicked some virus, so wanted to shut down immediately and work on it.

The above also is related to the damaged files.

Yes, MS has been lax in promoting the caveats I cite and in doing something
to avoid such corruption, but don't cry over spilt milk now. You've learned
something (and hopefully your mom has, too): Move on. (And regularly back
up your message store from now on.)
--
~PA Bear

Sully wrote:
PA Bear wrote:
He noticed that a lot of emails were broken up into pieces (ie an
email was split up into segments and spread out as several emails
with no author / subject / date etc. Just a one-liner content from
the email or part of the header), or one email contained several
other un-related emails all in one with the headers all jumbeled up
within it.

There's a big cluestick.

- Disable Background Compacting [N/A in SP2] and frequently perform
a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

On SP2 but I never manual did it as I didnt think it was a requirement

There's another one.
--
~PA Bear


And the clue reads to what?

I wasnt aware folders had to be compacted.

"Sully" wrote in message
oups.com...

Steve Cochran wrote:
You didn't check recover mode when you ran the program did you? If you
did,
then run the program again.

You know you can click on a column in the message list in OE to sort by
that
column don't you?

steve


Nope. Sorry about the email from my mother, I wasnt aware she was going
to email you. I think she is just a little frustrated that all her
emails disapeared as a result of Microsofts failure about this issue,
and that she paid for your program and it restored lots of emails - but
not all!


That's okay. I told her she better learn to backup stuff, as the hard drive
could fail and all would be lost.

From what I can see, its got all emails from 2004/2005 - booking forms,
individual queries etc. However for 2006 -- it seem to have just got
the "Sent Items" and a few individual queries. No booking forms :S.

The technicans that were over in the house mainly deal with Microsoft
Outlook and were not aware of this problem occuring before, but he
tried importing all OE "damaged" DBX emails into a different identity
in OE to see if that would restore them - it didnt. We tried to open
them in Mail Navigator - wasnt able to open the emails but recognise
the folder size was large. Installed Microsoft Outlook, imported all
DBX files again seeing if that would restore it perhaps - but it didnt.
Then we started on the recovered emails by dropping them into a folder
in OE;- sorting by date, taking out all 2004 & 2005 and leaving 2006.
He noticed that a lot of emails were broken up into pieces (ie an email
was split up into segments and spread out as several emails with no
author / subject / date etc. Just a one-liner content from the email or
part of the header), or one email contained several other un-related
emails all in one with the headers all jumbeled up within it.

Also, some emails were missing such as the booking forms but also
replies from people. For example, all our emails to date have been
"replied" to so that OE quotes your messsage when I reply to you, and
visa-versa. This is normal, and we stored such responses in drafts
anyway. The restore program didnt restore all of these emails. In one
example, only 4 emails from the one person were found but if you looked
at the emails you could see at least 10 other emails quoted - but were
not restored. These were not deleted, they were there before OE became
corrupt.

Im thinking of just placing the infected DBX files into one big RAR
file, placing them on a blank HDD, and getting the program to run the
scan on that HDD and see what happens. I was hoping it wouldnt come
across 2004 & 2005 - but it seems it will because they were not deleted
after all. Its a pitty this program isnt able to determine the name of
the folder its scanning and then dividing it up like that, instead of
just throwing them all together. (Possible feature request? :P)

Cheers for all your help m8, it has very much been appreciated.


That last is not going to help. The messages are not in the files, so you
can't get them out of the files.

Make sure you ran DBXpress on the actual hard drive where the messages were
and also that you did NOT check the recover mode option. It sounds to me as
if you got txt files and not eml files. If that is the case you need to run
it again on the disk without the recover mode option UNchecked.

cheers,

steve