Hard drive moved to external caddy, how can I find old Outlook Express and Outlook?

twiglet98

Having broken one desktop and two old laptops, I have removed all the hard drives and got 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch external caddies hoping I could access everything on these drives.

I expected to be able to see my Outlook Express email history, and Outlook calendars and contacts.

The Programs folder won't even open Outlook from the icon, the message says I must complet setup from its original location - I don't have the Office disk, all my computers were bought 2nd hand with Office pre-installed.. However, I can get into my Excel and Word documents without problems.

The folder for Outlook Express doesn't seem to include a subfolder for mail, only the address book and migration facility.

Any ideas how I can find my Outlook and OE history?

-TangleFoot-

Install a suitable email client, then import?

Likely locations in Windows XP:

Outlook Express 6

<drive>:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\<GUID>\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Outlook 2000-2003

<drive>:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

twiglet98

Do you mean install a DIFFERENT email client - eg Eudora or Thunderbird? All my computers have Windows XP (two bought with XP Pro already installed, two really old ones upgraded to XP Home with my own copy). They all have Outlook Express, though I'm rapidly realising webmail is a better idea, and I think they all have Office 2003,

-TangleFoot-

twiglet98 wrote: »

They all have Outlook Express, though I'm rapidly realising webmail is a better idea, and I think they all have Office 2003.

In that case just import. You could make things slightly easier by using Windows Live Mail - each message is a separate .eml file - but webmail and/or IMAP makes for less hassle in the event of system failure.

Figment

twiglet98 wrote: »

Having broken one desktop and two old laptops, I have removed all the hard drives and got 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch external caddies hoping I could access everything on these drives.

I expected to be able to see my Outlook Express email history, and Outlook calendars and contacts.

The Programs folder won't even open Outlook from the icon, the message says I must complet setup from its original location - I don't have the Office disk, all my computers were bought 2nd hand with Office pre-installed.. However, I can get into my Excel and Word documents without problems.

The folder for Outlook Express doesn't seem to include a subfolder for mail, only the address book and migration facility.

Any ideas how I can find my Outlook and OE history?

You can (should be able to) access the data that's on the drives. You will not be able to run any programs that were installed on the drives (unless they were portable versions designed to run without being installed)

You will also not be able to access emails directly from a mail client - you would have to install your chosen mail client and then import* the messages from the caddy hard drive




* subject to your chosen new mail client having the option to import from the mail client installed on the old drive.

LincolnshireYokel

You cant run the programs, youve moved the drive to a different machine (so the drive letter is wrong) with a different registry (so theres no registry entries), thats why its telling you to finish the install. All you can do is install a new client on the current C: and try and suck the data back in off the old drive.

johnmc

Do a search on your machine for "inbox" on each drive.

Open the containing folder.

twiglet98

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Install a suitable email client, then import?

Likely locations in Windows XP:

Outlook Express 6

<drive>:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\<GUID>\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Outlook 2000-2003

<drive>:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Thank you, with this advice I have been able to locate the OE folder with my email folders...but they are in DBX files. I get a message that 'Windows cannot open this file' and 'To open this file, Windows needs to know what program created it' but OE does not appear in the list of program options, despite being the email client I use on all my computers, and the web search throws up this most unhelpful page from Microsoft:
File Type: Database File
File Extension: .dbx
Description: Several applications store different types of databases with this file extension. Microsft Outlook Express stores email messages in a database with this file extension. The following application(s) also use this file extension.

So, I have not yet found a way to open them, but the night is young....

johnmc wrote: »

Do a search on your machine for "inbox" on each drive.

Open the containing folder.

The only folder this search found is F:\Program Files\Common Files\PCSuite\DataLayer\myfolders.xml

Figment

Do you have Outlook Express on the machine you're trying to access the emails from?

-TangleFoot-

twiglet98 wrote: »

So, I have not yet found a way to open them, but the night is young...

Follow the instructions at the bottom of this page.

twiglet98

...And the import has worked. Thank you so much, I wouldn't have worked out that location in a million years... happy to throw my hands up and admit it's a case of 'Problem in Chair, Not in Computer'!

This slightly geeky old biddy is learning all the time, just not as fast as she'd like. Thanks guys.