Outlook Express - inbox contents gone

[[email protected]]

A few months back Outlook Express v6 crashed and the contents of the inbox seemingly disappeared. I really need some of the old emails now.
I have found a file 'Inbox.dbx', which at 630mb seems too large for the number of emails that are now currently in my inbox (ie the ones I can actually see and open in Outlook Express)

Is there a chance that all my old emails are in this file? Can I recover them?

The computer runs win98.

[soybean]

Where did you find 'Inbox.dbx'?  If you search your entire hard drive, do you have two Inbox.dbx files, in different directories?  If you open OE, then go to Tools, Options, Maintenance, and click on Store Folder, is the folder shown there the location where you found 'Inbox.dbx'?

[[email protected]]

Yes - the file is in the same location if I follow the procedure you describe

[soybean]

What did you do when OE crashed A few months back?  Did you basically start over with empty folders in OE?  Besides the standard OE folders, did you have other OE folders you had created?

Have you ever changed the Store Folder location?  That can be done via Tools, Options, Maintenance, and click on Store Folder.  

630mb is large.  I have more, but I've got thousands of messages, some going back a few years.  Do you have a lot of messages with images/photos in them?  Anyway, unless you have another/old Inbox.dbx file somewhere on your hard drive, you have indeed lost your old messages.

Try doing a search (right click on Windows Start button and select Search) and search My Computer for *.dbx.  

[[email protected]]

When OE crashed I just carried on as usual. I have never created any new .dbx files or used any of the tool functions.

The new emails I can see in my inbox should in no way add up to 630mb on their own - that is why I am wondering if my 'old' messages going back 3-4 years (with lots of attachments) are still in this Inbox.dbx file.

I will search for all dbx files on the computer tomorrow.

Is there a way of recovering messages from a corrupt dbx file? A programme perhaps?

[soybean]

Exactly what happened when OE "crashed"?  Whatever it was, you "carried on as usual."  Doesn't quite sound like a "crash", does it?  

If your Inbox.dbx was corrupt, I believe you would be experiencing consistent problems when using OE.  If you're not now experiencing problems, I believe your Inbox is not corrupt, and there is nothing to recover.  What you see is what you've got.

I suggest you start backing up all your .dbx files.  You can use the Backup utility in Windows to do that.  

[[email protected]]

OK - what happened was that I looked in the 'sent items' and then when I went to 'inbox' - it was at this point that all contents simply were not there. So in fact there was no 'crash' as such.

I am still suprised at the size of the dbx file though.

I looked on the web last night and found some programmes that scan dbx files and repair/recover them - I think I might try one of them.