It is always best to start your own thread.

A copy of your pre-compacted dbx files went to the Recycle Bin, Move all
your current messages out of the Inbox to a user created folder and then
restore the one from the RB as follows.

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

***Close OE***

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing, or empty,
folder, (Inbox.dbx), 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 you will have a new Inbox. Open the new folder and then close
OE.

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.

If you already deleted the bak file from the Recycle Bin, then your only
hope is this tool and run it on the Inbox.dbx file that /did/ contain the
missing messages.

DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode is the best and only chance to
recover compacted messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"US Attachments" wrote in message
...
Bruce- Need your help-
My messages compacted on the 6th. This lost all my inbox from 9/28 -
11/6. I need them messages back.
I understand it happened because the folder got to big....

Ok so here I am right now. I only have 1 file inbox.dbx, no other inbox
files.
Where did the compact messages go?
Can I get them back somehow?



--
Please help me- thanks.

Doug Holmberg
"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
You're welcome. Glad you got them back.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Jim Wood" wrote in message
...
Bruce, you are a lifesaver, thanks much!

I followed your steps to the letter, but for some reason found my
dragged-from-the-desktop Saved Mail folder as a subfolder under Deleted
Items
in OE. Not sure why this happened, but I was able to load that folder
just
fine anyway.

Subsequently, I created quarterly folders for incoming and sent mail.
Folders are labeled: InArchiveQ1, etc. and SentArchiveQ1, etc. I then
took
all the old received and sent messages and transferred them into their
proper
archive folders, none of which were more than 150MB. This may be on the
high
side, but should be okay if an 800MB folder didn't crash before. This
way I
can have a year's worth of mail with an easy way of systematically
archiving
old messages and being able to find them later if need be.

Again, many thanks.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

You lost the messages because you allowed the Inbox become too large.
Try
this first. If it doesn't work, you will need a retrieval tool.

The Inbox.dbx(1) is the new one. leave that alone for now. The
Inbox.dbx
that is large is your old one with the missing messages. From the
message
store, drag Inbox.dbx to the Desktop and change the name to Saved
Mail.dbx.

Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on
the
Desktop, (Saved Mail). Open the new folder and then close OE. Go to
Windows
Explorer and locate 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.

If that restores the messages to the new folder, create more folders
and
move messages to them so they are not much more than 100MB each.
Compact all
folders when you're done.

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.insideoutlookexpress.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


"Jim Wood" wrote in message
...
OE6 opened this morning with no messages in the Inbox; there should
have
been
nearly a year's worth. New messages began to arrive and they are
being
saved,
but where are the old ones? I can locate these files: Inbox.dbx,
Inbox.bak and Inbox (1).dbx. The first two are huge, the Inbox
(1).dbx
is
small and growing. How can I merge the new one (1)? with either the
old
or
backup box, and why doesn't OE6 find the old inbox, I wonder?

ALSO... I note that there are multiple Search Folder.dbx files. Are
these
simply the mail searches I have made in the past, and can these files
simply
be deleted?