How do I find Emails on an old disk drive?

xxdeebeexx

Hi I have my old disk drive in a caddy and have been searching it for the past hour. I want to find my emails that were on outlook express. I have googled the problem but was hoping for a short cut.
I was using windows XP and using a laptop on windows 7

TIA

dx

leseul

Outlook express stores messages at the following path: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{Identity-GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\ the filenames will be like inbox.dbx etc. %USERPROFILE% should be replaced with your old username, and {Identity-GUID} will look something like {1234567890-12AB-CD34-EF12-123456789ABC}

You will need to have show hidden files and folders enabled.

What email program are you importing to? Windows Live Mail?

macman

If you've still got OE installed on the old drive, then you can open that and view your emails from within the application.
I'm not clear whether by 'find', you mean 'view', or whether you want to export them from the old drive and import them into a newer application on the laptop?

xxdeebeexx

macman wrote: »

If you've still got OE installed on the old drive, then you can open that and view your emails from within the application.
I'm not clear whether by 'find', you mean 'view', or whether you want to export them from the old drive and import them into a newer application on the laptop?

What is the OE ?
I can't find the emails on my old HDD. I want to view them to retrieve some information.
My old HDD is in a caddy at the moment.

thanks

dx

xxdeebeexx

leseul wrote: »

Outlook express stores messages at the following path: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{Identity-GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\ the filenames will be like inbox.dbx etc. %USERPROFILE% should be replaced with your old username, and {Identity-GUID} will look something like {1234567890-12AB-CD34-EF12-123456789ABC}

You will need to have show hidden files and folders enabled.

What email program are you importing to? Windows Live Mail?

Thanks it looks far too complicated to me.
I just want to read the emails and retrieve some info.

Thanks

dx

scheming_gypsy

It's easier to just search for *.dbx on the caddy to make sure you can find them. When it finds them it'll have inbox, sent items, deleted items etc...

OE is outlook express, what email programme do you use now?

xxdeebeexx

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

It's easier to just search for *.dbx on the caddy to make sure you can find them. When it finds them it'll have inbox, sent items, deleted items etc...

OE is outlook express, what email programme do you use now?

Thanks I have managed to find all the .dbx files but cant seem to read or transfer them. I have got Outlook Express 6 on the 'new' PC also windows live mail.

Thanks

dx

PS do I need the * when I am searching for the dbx files?

scheming_gypsy

The * is a wildcard so it's saying "anything".dbx

It's been a while since i've supported OE so i might be a bit rusty. If you're not currently using OE6 on the new PC, you can set it up as though you're going to use it and it'll create blank dbx files.
Find out where these are stored and then copy the old ones over the top of them. When you open OE again it'll show you all the old folders (copy and paste the files though, don't cut and paste as something it can go wrong and reset them so you want to keep a backup)

xxdeebeexx

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

The * is a wildcard so it's saying "anything".dbx

It's been a while since i've supported OE so i might be a bit rusty. If you're not currently using OE6 on the new PC, you can set it up as though you're going to use it and it'll create blank dbx files.
Find out where these are stored and then copy the old ones over the top of them. When you open OE again it'll show you all the old folders (copy and paste the files though, don't cut and paste as something it can go wrong and reset them so you want to keep a backup)

Thanks....I can't get it to work...
Never mind. I will try again in the morning.

I'm happy just to read the emails but dont know what to open them with,

dx

macman

You can't read .dbx files directly, you have to import and open them in a supported email program.
Which is why I suggested that you simply open them from your old hard drive using OE.
If the info you require is minimal then just copy over what you need.
But f you want to import everything, then there are no short cuts and you have to follow the earlier advice.

xxdeebeexx

macman wrote: »

You can't read .dbx files directly, you have to import and open them in a supported email program.
Which is why I suggested that you simply open them from your old hard drive using OE.
If the info you require is minimal then just copy over what you need.
But f you want to import everything, then there are no short cuts and you have to follow the earlier advice.

Thank you. I simply don't know how to do this

dx