I lost emails from Jan 25,2006 through Dec 12, 2007

I uploaded 6 (SIX) Microsoft updates this morning, and have lost all INBOX
emails after January 24, 2006. I use Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, and I
have the Microsoft XP. I THINK one of the updates was for Internet Explorer
7.0 - wonder if that is the glitch that got rid of so much of my emails, as I
am still using Internet Explorer 6.0.

Please advise if it is possible to get back all the lost emails from my IN
BOX. Those emails are very important to me, as these are work related, which
must be saved. Thank you.

 

P.S.

Wanted to clarify - my email is through OUTLOOK EXPRESS 6.0. I believe I
DO have Microsoft Explorer 7.0.

 

Hello Kathy,

Just a thought: I know that with this set of updates a restart of your PC
was required.

Do you have more than one user who uses that machine? For example, when the
machine boots up do you select a particular name from a choice of two or
more?

If you booted up using some name rather than the one that YOU usually use,
the emails in your Inbox will be different.

Alan

 

Alan....

I have rebooted so many times today, but I did just again restart my
computer - and I am still missing all emails January 26, 2006 onward (almost
2 years worth). I am the only one that signs on, and I did verify it was
signed in correctly under my name.

Any other ideas from you or any of the readers would be greatly
appreciated. I have a VAIO Sony computer I purchased May 2003. I have never
used a "recovery disk" - is this a time I should do it, do you think?

 

Hi Alan, and anyone else reading this thread....

To make things even stranger - ALL emails in my SENT box are STILL THERE
- December 12, 2007 back to May, 2003. So, whatever glitch/problem seems to
be with my IN box only, where the last 2 years have been lost. Help!!

"Kathy G"

 

Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings
and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is
checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is unchecked. You
may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should also make
certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types" is
not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is
selected and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name,
Type, Total Size, and Free Space.

In Windows Explorer using the file path obtained earlier locate
Inbox.dbx and any variants.Note their size and date / time stamp. The
original inbox will appear as inbox. dbx. The next as inbox (01) dbx,
then inbox (02) dbx etc. The file extension can also appear as .dbt i.e.
a temporary folder. Please let us know what you find.

Now check your Recycle Bin. Is there an inbox.bak there? If there is an
inbox.bak in your Eecycle Bin DO NOT empty it!

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Installing the updates had nothing to do with this.

Why it happens:

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

Recovering the missing data: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx (#2 and #4)
and http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=918069 (Notes section under
Resolution)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DBXpress (faster, more powerful, with even greater functionality)
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avoiding Such Corruption in Future:

- 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 [not available 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 shut down your machine while Windows is
automatically compacting your message store.

- Your anti-virus application's email scanning feature can also cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)

 

Kathy

Don't empty your recyle bin. Read my earlier post.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

To Gerry and Pa Bear.....

I must admit I am completely lost. I THOUGHT I downloaded a "fix" - but
I still cannot get back my email from Jan 24, 2006 through Dec 12, 2007.
Yes, I admit it was a verrry large file. I still do have the data in Recycle
Box - as inbox.bak.

Could one of you email me directly with info of what I need to do.
Gerry...I did follow all your directions from 1st paragraph below. Got lost
in reading your 2nd paragraph, so did not proceed. Sooo...I DO need some
more help.

I have a very large SENT box as well (still intact); if necessary, I can
try to weed through it, to get some more space.

"Kathy G"
(this is my email address)

 

1. Write down the location of your identity's store
(http://www.insideoe.com/files/store.htm#storemain).

2. Move any messages currently in your Inbox folder to another local OE
folder you've created for this purpose.

3. Move any messages that you want to keep out of Sent Items and Deleted
items folders into other local OE folders (preferably more than one) that
you've created for archiving old messages.

4. CLOSE OE!

5. Open Recycle Bin | Right-click on the file INBOX.BAK | Select RESTORE.

6a. Open your message store | Right-click on INBOX.BAK | Select RENAME |
Rename it to INBOX.DBX.

6b. Still in your message store folder, Delete SENT ITEMS.DBX and DELETED
ITEMS.DBX.

7. Open Outlook Express and confirm that your Inbox messages are back.

8. Move the bulk of your Inbox messages into other local OE folders
(preferably more than one) that you've created for archiving old messages.

9. Compact all OE folders
(http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact).

To avoid such problems in the future:

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

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Do not cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and 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 cause such
corruption. Disable it. It provides no additional protection.
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)

 

Hi there.....

Sorry it took so long to get back to you.

I did follow all your instructions, and am now waiting for my emails to
be restored (I did have QUITE A FEW OF THEM...I think around 5000 (yes, I DO
have to save emails in my job - and I can see this archiving is a royal
pain...very difficult to find specific emails). How long should it take for
that many emails to show up?

Also, when I went into my message store area, there was already an
INBOX.DBX as well as the INBOX.BAK that I moved there. As I had cleaned out
what new mail had come into by Inbox yesterday/today, I deleted the INBOX.DBX
- and renamed the INBOX.BAK to INBOX.DBX. Did I do that correctly?

Kathy G

 

X-post to OE General

That's not what I recommended doing, no...but then I didn't know that an
Inbox.bak file was present in your message store.

Are all of your messages now present in the Inbox folder?

 

Hi PA Bear....

No, NONE of my "lost emails" are back in my INBOX. ;-(

Wanted to reiterate again where I am - what I posted before, with a bit
more info at the end of it, about what is in the " message storage area.".
If this doesn't get sorted out soon, I have a feeling I may just have to
accept the fact that I lost all the emails. If nothing else, a lesson
learned. Boooo Hoooo
--------------------------------------------------------

I did follow all your instructions, and am now waiting for my emails to
be restored (I did have QUITE A FEW OF THEM...I think around 5000 (yes, I DO
have to save emails in my job - and I can see this archiving is a royal
pain...very difficult to find specific emails). How long should it take for
that many emails to show up?

Also, when I went into my message store area, there was already an
INBOX.DBX as well as the INBOX.BAK that I moved there. As I had cleaned out
what new mail had come into by Inbox yesterday/today, I deleted the INBOX.DBX
- and renamed the INBOX.BAK to INBOX.DBX. Did I do that correctly?
------------------------------------------

****I am now confused about the files in my message store area, as I
DEFINITELY DID delete the INBOX.DBX and renamed INBOX.BAK to INBOX.DBX - but
this is what it shows:

1) Inbox.dbx
File
481,184 KB

2) Inbox.dbx
DBX File
139 KB

#1 above is my "restored data" (what I lost and was sent to recycle)
Type: File
Date Modified: 12/12/07 1:27AM
Size: 469MB

Did I "rename" #1 above incorrectly? How does the "DBX File" line get in
there?

"Kathy G"

 

Yes, if you did it while OE was closed.

 

Kathy

Make sure Outlook Express is closed and go to the Store Folder in
Windows Explorer and delete the Inbox.dbx which is 139 KB. Also delete
Folders. dbx. Exit from Windows Explorer and reopen Outlook Express.
Does the Inbox open in Outlook Express and reveal your missing emails?
If not has another 139 kb Inbox.dbx file appeared in Windows Explorer?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

To keep track of things, it helps immensely if you include all of previous
message(s) in your replies to the newsgroup. Thank you.

Also:

=> Please stick to one (1) thread subject from now on and DO NOT EDIT/CHANGE
THE SUBJECT AT ALL!

=> All of your replies should be crossposted to OE General newsgroup
(microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general).

1. Close OE.

2. Rename the 139KB file named INBOX.DBX to INBOX.OLD.

3. Open OE: Are your Inbox messages present?
--
~PA Bear

 

Archive of all related threads for reference:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsupdate/browse_frm/thread/163c33be6b355cb5

http://groups.google.com/group/micr..._frm/thread/93f85098bfeaa7b3/d5db943eea92f7b3

 

Hi, I think we have the same problem, I noticed that my mom's computer has a
lot of outlook files in her recycle bin as well. Are you missing any other
files? My girlfriend and my mother's computers are both losing photos and mp3
files, yet the folders are still there, but empty, and can't be deleted or
moved. I'm really convinced that a recent windows update has done this but I
can't figure out which one.
If you read this could you reply if you have the photo loss as well? It
would help greatly if I can get more info on the possible cause before it
happens to more people I know.
Let me warn you now to back up any photos or important files because I have
yet to find a fix for this and it gets worse, the files and photos keep
disappearing, but they are still on the hard drive, I was able to recover
most of the lost stuff with software.

 

...I noticed that my mom's computer has a

Outlook and Outlook Express are *not* the same thing.

If you're having problems in Outlook Express, begin a new thread in
microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general newsgroup.

If you're having problems in Outlook, begin a new thread in
microsoft.public.outlook.general newsgroup.

If you're having problems in Windows XP, begin a new thread in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general newsgroup.

If you're having problems in Vista, begin a new thread in
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general newsgroup.

If you're having problems with Windows Update, begin a new thread in this
newsgroup.

State your Windows version in your first post.

 

I have Windows Maill(Vista) and my emails are disappearing too.What's this
about?Will one of the Microsoft engineers please help!