Retrieving e-mail after reinstalling XP

[rockyb31]

I recently had to reinstall Windows XP Professional on my home PC. I use Outlook Express for e-mail. I have (2) hard drives on my system. Before reinstalling XP, I moved all of my critical files to the second hard drive. I reinstalled XP on the primary drive, and then went through the tedious process of setting up Outlook Express again. I wanted to retrieve e-mail that was stored on the system, but I cannot locate the files. I am not sure if I correctly moved these files to the secondary drive before I reinstalled XP. Does anyone have info that may help me located these e-mails, or at least determine whether or not I saved them correctly? Thanks!

[Force Flow]

Welcome to PCMech, rockyb31

They would be here: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{big long sting of numbers & letters}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Or did you do a message export?

[rockyb31]

Thank you for the response! No, I did not do a message export. Something tells me that would have made entirely too much sense and would have required some advance planning on my part! I was sure I had thought everything through prior to reinstalling, and I didn't think the e-mails were important until my wife asked me about her e-mails!

[rockyb31]

Just a quick thanks for the reply! I located the files and lo and behold all of my old e-mail was still there! In fact, I pulled up e-mail from a year ago on an account that was changed. Thanks again for the pointer!

[RayH]

Since you have everything on a second drive, you might do well for yourself to just keep them there. There is a way to point MY DOCUMENTS, Outlook Express, Adress Book, and Favorites to the folders on the second drive.

This way, you don't have to worry about losing them ever! I use Hotmail, so I don't have to worry about my e-mail. But everything else is on D:\.

My Documents: Right Click > Properties > Move (create a folder).

Favorites: Move and Paste to New location. Copy and Paste the contents of the saved favorites to the new location folder.

Do a Google search for how to move OE and Address Book. Basically, you move the folders and make a slight reg edit.