Help - Reinstalled Windows.... LOST A LOT

[jbruno]

OK, I have been having problems so I booted from disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

Lost Many things.

I am most in need of my old e-mails and bookmarks. What is the best way to get them?

I do have an undelete programs that finds things but many are corrupted. If I could just get e-mails and bookmarks, I would be happy.

Help

[ITlover]

It is always recommended to save the important data in seperate folder in another partition so that when you are reinstalling or fresh installing the OS , you donot loose your important data.

I think there are some softwares that can recover your previous files .

[jbruno]

Originally Posted by ITlover It is always recommended to save the important data in seperate folder in another partition so that when you are reinstalling or fresh installing the OS , you donot loose your important data. I think there are some softwares that can recover your previous files .

I can find deleted files using "PC Inspector File Recovery" I just need to know where Outlook Express keeps the e-mails on the Hard Drive. I can look for that file and hopefully get those back. Also, bookmarks.

[jbruno]

I found my bookmarks

just need 1 IE bookmark and e-mails....

[jbruno]

Originally Posted by jbruno I found my bookmarks just need 1 IE bookmark and e-mails....

Could someone please tell me how to search for my "lost" e-mails?

Thanks

[EzyStvy]

Mail is stored:

C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{E5C4B58E-0072-4A0E-BA21-DD32793F2322}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

[jbruno]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy Mail is stored: C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{E5C4B58E-0072-4A0E-BA21-DD32793F2322}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

TY, Although under my "old" (pre-reinstall) user name, their is no "local settings" folder.

Also, what kind of file is the e-mail file (I use outlook express)? .dat?

Thank you,

[Negeva]

OE files use the extension .dbx so just look for them.

As someone suggested you should backup before re-installing, you can use the File and Transfer settings wizard which is nice and easy. Or do it manually; for OE you would backup the message folder which contains all the emails by copying the .dbx files, for the address book just search for a file with .wab extension and finally for Account Settings do the following;

Data about your mail and news accounts are stored in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager. To save this data, start RegEdit and select that key in the left-hand pane. Then from the menu select Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "outlook.reg".

Restore (if necessary) To restore the account settings, right-click the .REG file and select Merge.

Note: As an alternative, you can save the data one account at a time through Outlook Express: click Tools | Accounts | Export and specify the name of the file to save the settings. Be sure to save this information for every account.