Outlook express problem

[bigvern]

Hello-I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if I give too much-or too little info. I'm running Windows XP with OE6. I previously had a problem w/ OE hanging-probably because my OE folder was so large-over 10,000 emails. I found a solution on another forum that seemed to work. I created a new folder for the *.dbx files, restatred OE & then imported all the messages from that new folder using the "Import Messages" option in OE.. That fix worked perfectly-for about a month when the hanging problem came back. This time when I used the same fix only SOME of the files/messages were (re)-imported. I can "see" the missing files in the new folder I created but no matter how many times I try they wont transfer when I use the import messages option in OE!??
Also-since I've tried this several times I now have several temporary folder on my desktop-each containg complete-or incomplete-versions of my OE program and as a result i've now just about run out of disk space! I hesitate to delete any of the different OE folders because they ALL contain the various e/m message folders that wont import-& I'm afraid if I delete one of them it'll be the WRONG one and I'll lose those messages. HELP!

[soybean]

Are all of those " several temporary folder on my desktop" the same size? That would indicate they are likely to contain the same thing.  I think you're causing some confusion for yourself by not keeping track of which of those folders is the oldest, the second oldest, etc., and any differences in your procedures that might cause their contents to vary. 

Do you have CD or DVD burner?  If so, you could burn a copy of your backup OE files onto that media.  Otherwise, it sounds like you're going to have to decide on a way to free up some space on your hard drive, or get a larger hard drive.  An external hard drive would be alternative to CD/DVD backkup.

I can't say for sure why you're having the problem importing now, when you succeeded in doing this in past to resolve problems with OE.  Perhaps you accumulated so many messages in OE that now that's even affecting the import procedure.

OE can contain a very large number of messages if you spread them out into multiple folders.  Conversely, if you accumulated many thousands of messages in one folder, be it the Inbox or any other folder, you're going to encounter the problem you've experienced.  You can create folders and use Message Rules to manage email, so there's no reason to allow individual folders to get so large that they cause problems.

Sorry, but I can't give you a step-by-step procedure to fix your current problem.  Perhaps someone else can chime in.

[bigvern]

Hi Soybean-thanks for responding.The temp folders-3 of them-were similar in size because they were the *.dbx files of my OE folder. I say similar because the first one was the one created for the original fix a few weeks ago that I juxt kept-even tho the fix worked. The second one I created with a different name when the problem returned-but it was created using the same fix process that worked before. The difference this time was when I attempted to then import the messages as I had done before;-ALL the message did NOTmove-even tho the individual folders WERE created??!. & there appeared to be no rhyme or reason-i.e. one particular folder was created-but none of its messages came thru-HOWEVER-ALL of the sub-folders to that particular folder were created and all their messages did come thru!?? This folder contained some of the largest emails-however other folders with even larger emails and/or a greater # of emails transferred with no problems!??
Conversely some really small folders also did not go thru. So when I noticed this I ran the fix process again. THIS time when moving the files from the store folder to the temp desktop folder #3-the transfer was aborted due to "low disk space". Probably because I didnt delete the first two temp folders. So now I have this third folder with an undetermined # of *.dbx files in it.
Didnt think of the CD/DVD option til u mentioned it-wish I had. When I hadnt heard from anyone I bit the bullet and deleted the 3rd folder since I was fairly sure it wasnt complete.
BTW-the folder sizes are:-Folder#1:-38GB-/"size on disk"(?) is 33GB. Folder #2-33/29GB-Folder#3 (was) 22 & 19GB.
I do have multiple folders & sub-foleders most with only a few hundred-or less e/ms-altho there are a few with over a thousand-but they are spread over sveral sub-folders altho they may have large attachments connected to them.
To sum up-after I deleted Folder #3-I ran the process again with folder # 1-with the same result-most-but not ALL messages have been imported.
Still seem to have the low disk space problem-even tho I deleted a 20GB folder???
I have a 144GB capacity and apparently only ONE GB of free space!??-which is the SAME amt. of free space I had BEFORE I deleted the 20GB Folder#3???
I guess I could delete Folder#1-since it doesnt look like I can get those missing messages;--OR I could delete everything BUT those missing files that are in that folder?-in case somebody comes up with a way to re-capture the messages in them?? (The only reason I'm keeping #2 is because it was created 3 weeks AFTER #1-so there SHOULD be more current messages in that folder-IF they were transferred -and IF I'm ever able to import them!
**Also-a thought just occurred: The ONLY difference I can think of between the process of creating #1 vs #2 & 3 was that the fix instructions said to"drag" the files from the store folder to the temp folder. Because my folder was so large I thought i could save time by just doing "Select All" & "Move" to the new folder. Do u think this may have had any effect??
Finally-do you-or anyone-know of a way to just VIEW the .dbx files? At least that way I could at least see what's missing.??
Thanks in advance for whatever help you can give.

Vern

[soybean]

I have a 144GB capacity and apparently only ONE GB of free space!??-which is the SAME amt. of free space I had BEFORE I deleted the 20GB Folder#3???

This may be the root of your problem here.  What you said above doesn't make sense. You have a drive space issue that needs to be resolved.  Do you know what's consuming most of your drive space?  Photos?  Music?  Sofware?

[bigvern]

Sorry-I may not have worded that properly. I normally have about 40GB of free space. This free space is what's completely dissapeared since I started having the OE problem.
What confused me-and still does-is that after I deleted Folder#3-I s/have had at least that amount of space-approx. 20GB-freed up!?--but apparently it didnt- because as of now it still says I only have 1GB of free space!??
I ran a file/folder search and ranked the results by size-and most of the largest ones appear to be the *.dbx & also "bak" files. Howevr-I cant open them to view & see exactly what they are. The largest however are called"HTTPMail Text Document"s-which APPEAR to be the whole OE folder??? (There are FOUR of these-at approx. 4.2GB each!!??)
What does that mean?
Thanks.