Running Windows XP SP2, Norton AV. Today opened the inbox and it was empty.
All other folders that I have created are gone.

The folders appear to be there in the back up but I don't know how or if
they can be restored. Any suggestons?

Given no changes to the computer for sometime any ideas as to what caused
this?

"Jim" wrote in message
news:7b6tg.28479$8q.6580@dukeread08...
Running Windows XP SP2, Norton AV. Today opened the inbox and it was
empty.
All other folders that I have created are gone.

The folders appear to be there in the back up but I don't know how or if
they can be restored. Any suggestons?

Given no changes to the computer for sometime any ideas as to what caused
this?


This is usually caused by an anti-virus set to scan email or by the user
interrupting the compacting process.

See
Backing up and Cloning your OE Identities
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...pten.mspx#EBAA
Number 1
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...ten.mspx#E3EAC
and
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in newsgroup
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve
neither liberty or security"

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE" wrote in message
...
"Jim" wrote in message
news:7b6tg.28479$8q.6580@dukeread08...
Running Windows XP SP2, Norton AV. Today opened the inbox and it was
empty.
All other folders that I have created are gone.

The folders appear to be there in the back up but I don't know how or if
they can be restored. Any suggestons?

Given no changes to the computer for sometime any ideas as to what caused
this?


This is usually caused by an anti-virus set to scan email or by the user
interrupting the compacting process.

See
Backing up and Cloning your OE Identities
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...pten.mspx#EBAA
Number 1
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...ten.mspx#E3EAC
and
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM


Frank, I assume from your post that unless I have already backed up my email
I can't recover those lost messages?

By the way, I did not stop it compacting. I did have incoming email scanning
turned on but not outgoing.

Even if you didn't stop compacting, a *hiccup* of any kind may have caused
it. This is my canned reply.

The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), and bloated
folders. More on that below.

Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact

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

About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx

Recovery tools:

If you are using a fully patched version of XP/SP2, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069/en-us

If not:

DBXpress run in Disk Mode is the best chance to recover messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx

And see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4

A general warning if you don't want to lose your messages in the futu

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

And backup often.

Backup and Resto

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Jim" wrote in message
news:7b6tg.28479$8q.6580@dukeread08...
Running Windows XP SP2, Norton AV. Today opened the inbox and it was
empty.
All other folders that I have created are gone.

The folders appear to be there in the back up but I don't know how or if
they can be restored. Any suggestons?

Given no changes to the computer for sometime any ideas as to what caused
this?

"Jim" wrote in message
news:eC9tg.28498$8q.5859@dukeread08...

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE" wrote in message
...
"Jim" wrote in message
news:7b6tg.28479$8q.6580@dukeread08...
Running Windows XP SP2, Norton AV. Today opened the inbox and it was
empty.
All other folders that I have created are gone.

The folders appear to be there in the back up but I don't know how or if
they can be restored. Any suggestons?

Given no changes to the computer for sometime any ideas as to what
caused this?


This is usually caused by an anti-virus set to scan email or by the user
interrupting the compacting process.

See
Backing up and Cloning your OE Identities
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...pten.mspx#EBAA
Number 1
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...ten.mspx#E3EAC
and
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM


Frank, I assume from your post that unless I have already backed up my
email I can't recover those lost messages?

By the way, I did not stop it compacting. I did have incoming email
scanning turned on but not outgoing.


If the DBX files are still large, DBXtract will probably recover the
messages. Otherwise, if you have Win2K, WinXP or Win2K3 DBXpress can
recover most of them off the hard drive if you haven't already overwritten
the disk space. http://www.oehelp.com

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in newsgroup
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve
neither liberty or security"

Unfortunately the size of the files has nothing to do with whether there are
messages in them.

Programs such as OE and Norton can wipe out the contents of a file and leave
it full of zeroes. So a 35 megabyte file full of messages turns into a 35
megabyte file full of zeroes.

DBXtract won't help then, and the only thing that might is the extract from
disk feature of DBXpress.

steve

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE" wrote in message
...
"Jim" wrote in message
news:eC9tg.28498$8q.5859@dukeread08...

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE" wrote in message
...
"Jim" wrote in message
news:7b6tg.28479$8q.6580@dukeread08...
Running Windows XP SP2, Norton AV. Today opened the inbox and it was
empty.
All other folders that I have created are gone.

The folders appear to be there in the back up but I don't know how or
if they can be restored. Any suggestons?

Given no changes to the computer for sometime any ideas as to what
caused this?


This is usually caused by an anti-virus set to scan email or by the user
interrupting the compacting process.

See
Backing up and Cloning your OE Identities
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...pten.mspx#EBAA
Number 1
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...ten.mspx#E3EAC
and
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM


Frank, I assume from your post that unless I have already backed up my
email I can't recover those lost messages?

By the way, I did not stop it compacting. I did have incoming email
scanning turned on but not outgoing.


If the DBX files are still large, DBXtract will probably recover the
messages. Otherwise, if you have Win2K, WinXP or Win2K3 DBXpress can
recover most of them off the hard drive if you haven't already overwritten
the disk space. http://www.oehelp.com

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in newsgroup
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"