Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto and
external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling the
backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE came up
brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the address
book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I even
tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there anyway
to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda

Hi Linda,

If you want to know where Outlook Express stores it's folder data, on the
new brand new OE, go to it's Options, select the Maintenance tab, choose
Folder Store, examine the displayed path, notice there is a file named
"Identities".

When you backed up your hard drive and if this folder was included in the
backup all your previous Outlook Express folders are available for restore.

Examine your backup, did it include the Identities Folder, the path will be
near identical as you displayed above.

The address book is stored in a different location, however it is probably
in the same Application Data Folder of the same displayed path above, most
likely in one of the other folders you will see when opening the Application
Data Folder.

Ken

"Linda" wrote in message
...

| Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and
| external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling the
| backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE came
up
| brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the address
| book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I even
| tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway
| to get them back or are they gone forever?
| Any help would be appreciated.
|
| Thanks, Linda
|
|

I really don't know what you did from your post. See these links to see if
you erred in your backup procedure.

Backup and Resto

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

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

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

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...ten.mspx#E3EAC

Backing up and Cloning your OE Identities:
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling
the backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE
came up brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the
address book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I
even tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda

Make sure you enable showing hidden files and folders and then include them
in the advanced search options. See also www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4

steve

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling
the backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE
came up brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the
address book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I
even tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda

Ken, Bruce and Steve,
Thank you for your help. I found the folders.
They were in Documents and Settings\Linda\Application Data\Identities.
I restored them and OE is working good.
I've also bookmarked the help URL's you sent me for future reference.
Thanks again,
Linda


"Linda" wrote in message
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling
the backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE
came up brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the
address book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I
even tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda

Great!!!

Thanks for your reply
Ken

"Linda" wrote in message
...

| Ken, Bruce and Steve,
| Thank you for your help. I found the folders.
| They were in Documents and Settings\Linda\Application Data\Identities.
| I restored them and OE is working good.
| I've also bookmarked the help URL's you sent me for future reference.
| Thanks again,
| Linda
|
|
| "Linda" wrote in message
| ...
| Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
| and external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and
reinstalling
| the backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE
| came up brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find
the
| address book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there.
I
| even tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is
there
| anyway to get them back or are they gone forever?
| Any help would be appreciated.
|
| Thanks, Linda
|
|
|

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling
the backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE
came up brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the
address book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I
even tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and
external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling
the
backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE came
up
brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the
address
book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I even
tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway
to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.
make a copy
Thanks, Linda

Glad to hear it. Make sure you make a backup now.

steve

"Linda" wrote in message
...
Ken, Bruce and Steve,
Thank you for your help. I found the folders.
They were in Documents and Settings\Linda\Application Data\Identities.
I restored them and OE is working good.
I've also bookmarked the help URL's you sent me for future reference.
Thanks again,
Linda


"Linda" wrote in message
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and
reinstalling the backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or
address book. OE came up brand new as if it had never been set up. I've
tried to find the address book and folders on the backup but they don't
seem to be there. I even tried looking for hidden files and folders but
had no luck. Is there anyway to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda

hi

"Linda" escreveu na mensagem
...
Before reformatting my laptop hard drive I backed up the hard drive onto
and
external hard drive. After reformatting the laptop and reinstalling
the
backup I can't find or retrieve the OE folders or address book. OE came
up
brand new as if it had never been set up. I've tried to find the
address
book and folders on the backup but they don't seem to be there. I even
tried looking for hidden files and folders but had no luck. Is there
anyway
to get them back or are they gone forever?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Linda