Running windows xp with outlook express 6. Strange thing happened yesterday.
Was going through my email and responded to a number of them. Then went on
to do some other things. Returned to outlook express later to check on any
new emails and found that quite a number of emails were missing. I did not
delete them but looked in the deleted folder as well as all the other folders
to see if they were there. If it was only 1 or 2 emails I would not be
concerned, but there is a 2 month gap with nothing there. I have 2 different
email recovery programs but they have found nothing. Does anyone out there
have any thoughts? Thanks
--
kah

View | Current View. Is: Show All Messages checked?

If it is checked, did you compact or see the prompt to compact? How large
was the Inbox?

The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), or 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 running XP/SP2, or SP3, and are fully patched, then you should
have a backup of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, (or possibly the message
store), copied as bak files.

To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, first find the location
of the Message Store.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run.

In WinXP, the .dbx files are by default marked as hidden. To view these
files in Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start
| Control Panel | Folder Options | View.

Close OE and then 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.

If you do not have bak copies of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, then:

DBXpress run in Extract From 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 to help avoid this 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.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs, slows down sending and receiving, and
causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs, account setting changes
and has even been responsible for lose of messages. Your up-to-date A/V
program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

And backup often.

Backup and Resto

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

And this good one click backup program.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):

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

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"kah" wrote in message
...
Running windows xp with outlook express 6. Strange thing happened
yesterday.
Was going through my email and responded to a number of them. Then went
on
to do some other things. Returned to outlook express later to check on
any
new emails and found that quite a number of emails were missing. I did
not
delete them but looked in the deleted folder as well as all the other
folders
to see if they were there. If it was only 1 or 2 emails I would not be
concerned, but there is a 2 month gap with nothing there. I have 2
different
email recovery programs but they have found nothing. Does anyone out
there
have any thoughts? Thanks
--
kah

"kah" escribió en el mensaje de
...
Running windows xp with outlook express 6. Strange thing happened
yesterday.
Was going through my email and responded to a number of them. Then went
on
to do some other things. Returned to outlook express later to check on
any
new emails and found that quite a number of emails were missing. I did
not
delete them but looked in the deleted folder as well as all the other
folders
to see if they were there. If it was only 1 or 2 emails I would not be
concerned, but there is a 2 month gap with nothing there. I have 2
different
email recovery programs but they have found nothing. Does anyone out
there
have any thoughts? Thanks
--
kah