NJITGS wrote:
<top post moved to bottom>
> "dadiOH" <dadiOH@invalid.com> wrote in message
> newsdN%n.26540$c85.908@newsfe15.ams2...
>> NJITGS wrote:
>>> Recently I attempted to backup my Outlook Express using the Windows
>>> NT Backup Utility and when I tried to restore the files to the new
>>> directory they did not properly restore to the correct location and
>>> when I try to delete the misplaced folder it will not allow me to,
>>> it gives the following message:
>>>
>>> X Cannot delete Outlook Express: The file name you specified is
>>> not valid or to long.
>>> Specify a different file name.
>>>
>>> It is located in the following location:
>>>
>>> CDocuments and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\Local
>>> Settings\Application
>>> Data\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}\jkl
>>> The last three letters at the end of the file path is what I renamed
>>> the file to in attempt that it would then delete but no such luck.
>>>
>>> Now I have 6 years worth of emails with attachments (over 1Gb of
>>> data) erroneously located on my computer and fearing that it will
>>> cause problems later on.
>>>
>>> Operating System: Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002
>>> Service Pack 2
>>>
>>> Could anyone please help?
>>
>> What are the backup files; i.e., are they dbx files each of which
>> has a name that would show as a "folder" if they were being
>> displayed by OE? Or are they in some (propably) compressed
>> proprietary format used by your backup program?
>>
>> If the latter, do you still have the source (the backup itself) or
>> was it expanded to the now flaky directory?
>>
>> What happens when you run OE...do you see the assorted folders? What's in
>> them? Are they OK?
> Each of which are subfolders with .dbx files that were misplaced when
> restoring.
What makes you think they were misplaced?
OK, try this...
1. Open OE
2. Click on a folder, click on "Properties", make note of where the
folders are stored.
3. Browse to that location and copy all dbx fies in the folder to a new,
temporary location.
4. Go back to OE, Tools, Options, Maintenance tab, Store folder button.
5. Tell OE the new store location is your flaky folder...
C
Documents and
Settings\Compaq_Administrator\LocalSettings\ApplicationData\Identities\{D190EE07-1887-4595-8F62-6253114299D2}
NOTE: There are normally subfolders there: 1st is Microsoft which has an
Outlook Express sub-folder. If those exist, assure that you are including
them in the path
6. Close OE and reopen. Do #2 above again...is the store folder now
your flaky folder? Is everything OK?
7. If so, you can just delete the folder from #3 and leave the flaky
folder alone as long as you don't mind your mail being stored there.
You could also keep your temporary folder, renaming it to somethng
appropriate such as "OE Mail Backup". Periodically, delete everything in it
and copy *ALL* dbx files from OE's normal store folder to it to serve as a
backup. If you need/want to restore, reverse the procedure; i.e., delete
*ALL* dbx file in OE's normal store folder and copy *ALL* files in your
backup folder to it.
_______________
I would like to suggest a (IMO) less troublesome way of backing up your
mail. But first a bit of info about email "files" and "folders"...
Email messages do not exist in OE as separate, discreet files; instead, all
messages within an OE (pseudo) folder are chained together into one big
file. Doing that saves a lot of space because everytime a file is created
or extended a certain amount of disk space is allocated to it. That
allocation unit can range from around 4000 byes to around 32000 bytes
depending on the size of your hard drive. That means that a lot of small
files consume a HUGE amount of disk space; that unneeded space is greatly
reduced by chaining together many small files into one large one.
The one big file is displayed to you as individual email messages because OE
keeps an index of the big file (pseudo-folders) layout in Folders.dbx. If
that file gets messed up, all your email messages in all the other dbx files
(pseudo-folders) are toast.
My suggestion is this...
1. Create a folder somewhere named "OE Email Backup"
2. Create subfolders under it, each named correspondingly to OE's
pseudo-folders.
3. In OE, click a folder you want to back up, selet all, drag into the
appropriate backup folders. You now have individual, discrete emails in
your backup folder(s). Delete the ones in OE (you do have OE set to dump
deleted items on exit, right?).
4. Those individual messages are taking up scads of room so zip up the
whole group of backup folders. If/when you want to read one, open the zip
and click on a message...OE will open it. Same thing if you burn the zip to
a CD/DVD.
Of course, you don't need individual folders in your backup zip, all could
be in one folder.
_______________
No more worry with the need to compact, no more export/import, no more
confusion about dbx files.
--
dadiOH
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