Lost Outlook Express 5 email

[Carman]

I recently upgraded from Windows ME to XP. When Outlook Express upgraded from version 5 to 6 I lost all of my saved email messages.
Any way to recover them.
Thanks

[i6s1]

Probably not. Did you format your hard drive when you did the upgrade?

[rajatQ2]

do a search on your hard drive for *.dbx

those are where all your emails are actually stored. If you can find a big file, bingo. ohterwise you might be out of luck. I had outlook 5 once erasing everything in my local mailbox whenever i restarted the computer. POS!

[Carman]

No I didn't format my drive. I upgraded so hopefully it'r on there somewhere

[Jeffbx]

Have a look in C:\Documents and Settings\(your logon name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{long serial number}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

This is the default location for the .dbx files.

HOWEVER - the idiots who wrote this program never took any file recovery processes into consideration. If you're lucky enough to find any .dbx files, it's a whole process (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q262118) to get OE to recognize them as valid files.

I had a bad experience once where I accidentally deleted my 'folders.dbx' file. Next time I launched OE, ALL of my mail was gone. All the folders - inbox, outbox, sent, all the folders I created - everything. Since OE didn't see the folders.db file, it automatically created a new one. In doing so, it automatically created new folders, which overwrote my mail files. I spent three solid days with every file recovery package I could find, and there was no trace of any of those files on my drive anymore. I found files that I had deleted 18 months ago, but not one of my .dbx files. I'm still mad about that.

Plus the fact that, being the savvy PC user that I am, I last backed up my mail files oh, about 9 months before, rounded it out as a great experience overall.

Of course, I'm still stupid enough to continue using it, so I guess I've got no one to blame but myself! :P