Outlook Mail Missing after Compact

[magickal1]

Hello,

While running Compact Outlook Express messages my machine crashed and when i rebooted and opened OE again, about 1/2
the folders were empty. While the other half have all messages they should.
Of course the folder i need info. from, my Inbox, is one of the empty ones. It also automatically downloaded 3 messages when i first opened OE before i could stop it.

All the folder sizes seem correct and unchanged from before the compact/crash, my InBox shows 68 MB .

I tried using several OE recovery programs but they all only show the 3 new downloaded messages in my Inbox. (OE-Mail Recovery, Easy Outlook Repair, Mail Navigator, OE Database Converter, AOER and ScanDBX.)

I'm hoping that since the .dbx file size remained the same,maybe my messages are still in there and readable or extractable somehow?

Im running Windows XP pro, SP2 (for awhile now, not a new install)

Thank you for any help or suggestions!

 

[smah]

Your best chance for recovery (other than from a backup) will be to use one of the recovery programs here

http://www.oehelp.com/

 

[magickal1]

thanks for the quick reply.

ive visited that website and and read about the programs there but was hesitant to buy since i cant try them before buying. do you know if the programs there work significantly differently than the other programs i tried that i listed? (since none of those were able to read or recover any of the lost info.)

thanks again!

 

[smah]

The author of those programs has been an MS-MVP for OE for many years and has been very immersed in the .dbx file structure. I can't guarantee that you data is recoverable, but if any of it is, one of those programs is your best chance.