Recommendations for Outlook Express .DBX Repair Software

[Vicenarian]

Might have a job soon that involves a corrupted Outlook Express .DBX Inbox file...so,


Does anybody have any suggestions for repair software?

 

[smlie4]

I have just received a corrupt dbx file from a customer to fix.

I have been looking for last 30mins everything points back to the same paid software.

I will post again if I find something.

 

[FoolishTech]

Wish I had a recommendation on software...

However, with a certain level of updates, maybe XP SP2 or so, you should note that Outlook Express makes backups in the recycle bin of it's DBX files when it compacts them. Each .DBX file will be found as a .BAK in the bin.

Last time I had a call for corrupted DBX files, (they must have been corrupted during the compacting process), all I had to do was restore the originals.

If nothing else maybe there is a copy in there from an earlier compacting process.

Worth a look...

 

[smlie4]

http://www.technibble.com/repair-tool-of-the-week-dbxtract-45/

Using it now.

Also worth noting is if DBX folder exceeds 2GB it will corrupt. Make sure you inform your customer. The solution is to keep the inbox freed up by created folders for different things. Like a folder for jokes and drag all joke emails to it, this way the load is shared over multiple boxes.

 

[Vicenarian]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! +Rep for you all.

 

[smlie4]

Using it now.

I discovered that it you tick the recover mode box the emails are recovered as .TXT rather than .EML so probably don't tick the recover box.

 

[Vicenarian]

Just a FYI, used this:

Email Recovery for Outlook Express v.3.2.0

Worked amazingly well, ran fast, and fixed the borken .DBX file


Edit: The issue was a DBX exceeding 2 GB which caused the corruption

 

[smlie4]

Just a FYI, used this:

Email Recovery for Outlook Express v.3.2.0

Worked amazingly well, ran fast, and fixed the borken .DBX file

How many emails were in your inbox?

My case:
DBXtract 8389 emails in the 2GB inbox.dbx folder. After 4 hours 150 completed. The first 1hour it was searching the file.

I actually had to start it again because this morning we had a power outage for the first time this year. The previous run was 8 hours and 734 or 8389 emails recovered.

I have contacted the customer and told them it is probably going to take 4-5 days.

 

[Vicenarian]

How many emails were in your inbox?

My case:
DBXtract 8389 emails in the 2GB inbox.dbx folder. After 4 hours 150 completed. The first 1hour it was searching the file.

I actually had to start it again because this morning we had a power outage for the first time this year. The previous run was 8 hours and 734 or 8389 emails recovered.

I have contacted the customer and told them it is probably going to take 4-5 days.

Sorry for not responding to this post sooner...must have missed it somehow.
Anyway, in my case, about 8000 emails as well. However, with the program I used, total recovery to .eml files took only about 20 minutes. VERY happy with the software purchase.

 

[Rosco]

well next time i have a outlook i got the software to do it know. Thanks for the tips everyone!

 

[smlie4]

The outcome of my efforts.

of the 8 thousand odd emails discovered, it only recovered the already readable 2 thousand odd. So it was a waste of time.

 

[Vicenarian]

The outcome of my efforts.

of the 8 thousand odd emails discovered, it only recovered the already readable 2 thousand odd. So it was a waste of time.

You were using DBXextract or whatever though, right?