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Mailbox Data Recovery

Email is the number one computer application today, but there is often little attention paid to backing up and preparing for data loss. Most email programs provide little or no assistance with these tasks, with the onus being on the user. In preparing for data loss, don't forget the often-overlooked account settings, address books, filtering rules, and passwords.

Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express are the most widely used email programs today. While Outlook Express' .dbx files are relatively safe, Outlook .pst data files are complex, and quite trivial damage can sometimes render them irreparable. Many people tend to store a few years' worth of email data, with attachments, in a .pst file. This is large-scale data storage, a purpose for which .pst files were never designed.

Use one of the following methods to manage the size of .pst files:

• Use multiple .pst files
• Use the archive feature
• Save attachments and delete them from messages

Microsoft provides a utility called the Inbox Repair Tool that can often be used to recover data from a corrupted .pst file. If only the file's header is damaged then the Inbox Repair Tool should have no trouble recovering the entire file. However, the tool deletes anything within the file that it doesn't understand, so if data has actually been corrupted then some or all of the file's contents could be lost.

Outlook Express .dbx files are easier to deal with as they store information in plain text, which means that the files can be opened in notepad and the text copied to another file, as a last resort. The Folders.dbx file is an index file that may be deleted if it becomes corrupted, as it is recreated dynamically. Note however that it stores newsgroup subscriptions, which will be lost when you delete the file.

Backing up your Outlook or Outlook Express files is relatively easy.

First, locate the store file(By default Microsoft deliberately locates it deep in your user settings folders to prevent accidental corruption). You can locate the store folder by accessing tools/options/maintainence and clicking on 'Store Folder' (cut and paste the file pathname into your search function for easy access). This folder can then be written to disk and verified by importing it to Outlook or Outlook Express elsewhere. At the same time do a simple address backup by exporting a comma separated values (csv) list using the export function in the file menu.