What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express 6.0? I
did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by copying an entire
subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have forgotten. I also need to
know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6 bookmark files.
I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage from viruses. Man if I ever
caught the low-lives that wrote these viruses in the first place....!!!! A
brand-new copy of Trend Micro will be installed immediately after
reformatting and installing Windows, to hopefully avoid this problem in the
future.

Chris F. wrote:
> What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express
> 6.0? I did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by
> copying an entire subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have
> forgotten. I also need to know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6
> bookmark files. I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage from
> viruses. Man if I ever caught the low-lives that wrote these viruses
> in the first place....!!!! A brand-new copy of Trend Micro will be
> installed immediately after reformatting and installing Windows, to
> hopefully avoid this problem in the future.

Open outlook express, click on tools, then options, then the maintenance
tab. Now click on the button that says store folder, and it will tell
you where all your stuff is stored for this account. You can copy and
paste it into an explorer window and just backup those contents. Done.

--
Night_Seer

Chris F. wrote:
> What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express
> 6.0? I did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by
> copying an entire subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have
> forgotten. I also need to know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6
> bookmark files. I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage from
> viruses. Man if I ever caught the low-lives that wrote these viruses
> in the first place....!!!! A brand-new copy of Trend Micro will be
> installed immediately after reformatting and installing Windows, to
> hopefully avoid this problem in the future.

Open outlook express, click on tools, then options, then the maintenance
tab. Now click on the button that says store folder, and it will tell
you where all your stuff is stored for this account. You can copy and
paste it into an explorer window and just backup those contents. Done.

--
Night_Seer

"Night_Seer" <ecamacho4 at hotmail dot com> wrote in message news:<CradnSv3nKGd9undRVn-sQ@speakeasy.net>...
> Chris F. wrote:
> > What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express
> > 6.0? I did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by
> > copying an entire subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have
> > forgotten. I also need to know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6
> > bookmark files. I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage from
> > viruses. Man if I ever caught the low-lives that wrote these viruses
> > in the first place....!!!! A brand-new copy of Trend Micro will be
> > installed immediately after reformatting and installing Windows, to
> > hopefully avoid this problem in the future.
>
> Open outlook express, click on tools, then options, then the maintenance
> tab. Now click on the button that says store folder, and it will tell
> you where all your stuff is stored for this account. You can copy and
> paste it into an explorer window and just backup those contents. Done.

The first suggestion above may be available in a more recent version
than I have. Otherwise a complete procedure may include smaller steps
not clearly spelled out above (eg pasting into an explorer window
could mean two different things such as MS Internet Explorer or
Windows Explorer).

But in my version of MSOE (6.00.2800.1106), the
tools/options/maintenance tab only provides a way to change where
messages are saved to, within MSOE's own internally displayed folders.
I cannot change that path to anywhere on my HD or to removable
storage, outside MSOE. So there's no immediate option for a duplicate
location on the hard drive for creating a back-up of my messages.
I've been looking for a solution to this for quite a while.

I've found two interesting options but not tried either yet. One is
to export my MSOE data to another email program, like Microsoft
Outlook, which I'm told is easier to control file storage location and
backup. This is available in the File/Export/Messages drop down menu.
I've been reluctant to try this until I'm ready to migrate all my
email handling to MS Outlook and close Outlook Express. With
thousands of files and scores of folders set up in MSOE over several
years, I'll wait longer til I have enough time to have a chance to
succeed with this. Outlook appears to have more features than Outlook
Express. But it is also more complicated and probably takes longer to
learn and set up the way I want. Also, with both Outlook and Outlook
Express active, one takes priority over the other for incoming mail by
unseen default, and I think it's Outlook, which again, I'm not fully
ready for yet.

The other option is to simply copy the folder where your MSOE files
are stored on your hard drive, to a 2nd and different location. Took
me a long time to find where they are stored, because unlike
Compuserve's file cabinet which I was familiar with, MSOE folders are
stored as .dbx (?database) files. My path was C/Windows/Application
Data/Identities/{(a long alpha-numeric named
folder)}/Microsoft/Outlook Express. If you have the same operating
system as me (Windows Me), your path will probably be similar, except
you may have different alpha-numeric characters for the 5th element
in that path. This backup is mostly a raw data dump with the folders
converted into data files, without separate message files. If you
want to "access" that data, for instance if you lose your primary data
in MSOE, you'll probably have to copy it and paste it back to the
original location and then open MSOE.

Bob/rjam24

"Night_Seer" <ecamacho4 at hotmail dot com> wrote in message news:<CradnSv3nKGd9undRVn-sQ@speakeasy.net>...
> Chris F. wrote:
> > What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express
> > 6.0? I did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by
> > copying an entire subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have
> > forgotten. I also need to know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6
> > bookmark files. I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage from
> > viruses. Man if I ever caught the low-lives that wrote these viruses
> > in the first place....!!!! A brand-new copy of Trend Micro will be
> > installed immediately after reformatting and installing Windows, to
> > hopefully avoid this problem in the future.
>
> Open outlook express, click on tools, then options, then the maintenance
> tab. Now click on the button that says store folder, and it will tell
> you where all your stuff is stored for this account. You can copy and
> paste it into an explorer window and just backup those contents. Done.

The first suggestion above may be available in a more recent version
than I have. Otherwise a complete procedure may include smaller steps
not clearly spelled out above (eg pasting into an explorer window
could mean two different things such as MS Internet Explorer or
Windows Explorer).

But in my version of MSOE (6.00.2800.1106), the
tools/options/maintenance tab only provides a way to change where
messages are saved to, within MSOE's own internally displayed folders.
I cannot change that path to anywhere on my HD or to removable
storage, outside MSOE. So there's no immediate option for a duplicate
location on the hard drive for creating a back-up of my messages.
I've been looking for a solution to this for quite a while.

I've found two interesting options but not tried either yet. One is
to export my MSOE data to another email program, like Microsoft
Outlook, which I'm told is easier to control file storage location and
backup. This is available in the File/Export/Messages drop down menu.
I've been reluctant to try this until I'm ready to migrate all my
email handling to MS Outlook and close Outlook Express. With
thousands of files and scores of folders set up in MSOE over several
years, I'll wait longer til I have enough time to have a chance to
succeed with this. Outlook appears to have more features than Outlook
Express. But it is also more complicated and probably takes longer to
learn and set up the way I want. Also, with both Outlook and Outlook
Express active, one takes priority over the other for incoming mail by
unseen default, and I think it's Outlook, which again, I'm not fully
ready for yet.

The other option is to simply copy the folder where your MSOE files
are stored on your hard drive, to a 2nd and different location. Took
me a long time to find where they are stored, because unlike
Compuserve's file cabinet which I was familiar with, MSOE folders are
stored as .dbx (?database) files. My path was C/Windows/Application
Data/Identities/{(a long alpha-numeric named
folder)}/Microsoft/Outlook Express. If you have the same operating
system as me (Windows Me), your path will probably be similar, except
you may have different alpha-numeric characters for the 5th element
in that path. This backup is mostly a raw data dump with the folders
converted into data files, without separate message files. If you
want to "access" that data, for instance if you lose your primary data
in MSOE, you'll probably have to copy it and paste it back to the
original location and then open MSOE.

Bob/rjam24

rjam24 wrote:
> "Night_Seer" <ecamacho4 at hotmail dot com> wrote in message
> news:<CradnSv3nKGd9undRVn-sQ@speakeasy.net>...
>> Chris F. wrote:
>>> What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express
>>> 6.0? I did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by
>>> copying an entire subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have
>>> forgotten. I also need to know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6
>>> bookmark files. I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage
>>> from viruses. Man if I ever caught the low-lives that wrote these
>>> viruses in the first place....!!!! A brand-new copy of Trend Micro
>>> will be installed immediately after reformatting and installing
>>> Windows, to hopefully avoid this problem in the future.
>>
>> Open outlook express, click on tools, then options, then the
>> maintenance tab. Now click on the button that says store folder,
>> and it will tell you where all your stuff is stored for this
>> account. You can copy and paste it into an explorer window and just
>> backup those contents. Done.
>
> The first suggestion above may be available in a more recent version
> than I have. Otherwise a complete procedure may include smaller steps
> not clearly spelled out above (eg pasting into an explorer window
> could mean two different things such as MS Internet Explorer or
> Windows Explorer).
>
> But in my version of MSOE (6.00.2800.1106), the
> tools/options/maintenance tab only provides a way to change where
> messages are saved to, within MSOE's own internally displayed folders.
> I cannot change that path to anywhere on my HD or to removable
> storage, outside MSOE. So there's no immediate option for a duplicate
> location on the hard drive for creating a back-up of my messages.
> I've been looking for a solution to this for quite a while.
>
> I've found two interesting options but not tried either yet. One is
> to export my MSOE data to another email program, like Microsoft
> Outlook, which I'm told is easier to control file storage location and
> backup. This is available in the File/Export/Messages drop down menu.
> I've been reluctant to try this until I'm ready to migrate all my
> email handling to MS Outlook and close Outlook Express. With
> thousands of files and scores of folders set up in MSOE over several
> years, I'll wait longer til I have enough time to have a chance to
> succeed with this. Outlook appears to have more features than Outlook
> Express. But it is also more complicated and probably takes longer to
> learn and set up the way I want. Also, with both Outlook and Outlook
> Express active, one takes priority over the other for incoming mail by
> unseen default, and I think it's Outlook, which again, I'm not fully
> ready for yet.
>
> The other option is to simply copy the folder where your MSOE files
> are stored on your hard drive, to a 2nd and different location. Took
> me a long time to find where they are stored, because unlike
> Compuserve's file cabinet which I was familiar with, MSOE folders are
> stored as .dbx (?database) files. My path was C/Windows/Application
> Data/Identities/{(a long alpha-numeric named
> folder)}/Microsoft/Outlook Express. If you have the same operating
> system as me (Windows Me), your path will probably be similar, except
> you may have different alpha-numeric characters for the 5th element
> in that path. This backup is mostly a raw data dump with the folders
> converted into data files, without separate message files. If you
> want to "access" that data, for instance if you lose your primary data
> in MSOE, you'll probably have to copy it and paste it back to the
> original location and then open MSOE.
>
> Bob/rjam24

Sorry I should have been more clear...you cut and paste the directory
info from that tab (which shows you where all your stuff is stored),
into the windows explorer addressbar (not internet explorer, though
technically it would work there), and it will explor to that particular
folder. You could write it dwon and then type it out but this would
take much more time). This is the same folder that you were hunting
around for that has DBX files. Now you just back up the CONTENTS of
this folder to a seperate hard drive, or a CD, and you have made a
backup of your OE files.

--
Night_Seer

rjam24 wrote:
> "Night_Seer" <ecamacho4 at hotmail dot com> wrote in message
> news:<CradnSv3nKGd9undRVn-sQ@speakeasy.net>...
>> Chris F. wrote:
>>> What is the proper way to back up mail files from Outlook Express
>>> 6.0? I did this once before when reformatting my hard drive, by
>>> copying an entire subdirectory tree to a CD-R, but I seem to have
>>> forgotten. I also need to know how to backup Netscape 7 and IE 6
>>> bookmark files. I have to reformat my hard drive due to damage
>>> from viruses. Man if I ever caught the low-lives that wrote these
>>> viruses in the first place....!!!! A brand-new copy of Trend Micro
>>> will be installed immediately after reformatting and installing
>>> Windows, to hopefully avoid this problem in the future.
>>
>> Open outlook express, click on tools, then options, then the
>> maintenance tab. Now click on the button that says store folder,
>> and it will tell you where all your stuff is stored for this
>> account. You can copy and paste it into an explorer window and just
>> backup those contents. Done.
>
> The first suggestion above may be available in a more recent version
> than I have. Otherwise a complete procedure may include smaller steps
> not clearly spelled out above (eg pasting into an explorer window
> could mean two different things such as MS Internet Explorer or
> Windows Explorer).
>
> But in my version of MSOE (6.00.2800.1106), the
> tools/options/maintenance tab only provides a way to change where
> messages are saved to, within MSOE's own internally displayed folders.
> I cannot change that path to anywhere on my HD or to removable
> storage, outside MSOE. So there's no immediate option for a duplicate
> location on the hard drive for creating a back-up of my messages.
> I've been looking for a solution to this for quite a while.
>
> I've found two interesting options but not tried either yet. One is
> to export my MSOE data to another email program, like Microsoft
> Outlook, which I'm told is easier to control file storage location and
> backup. This is available in the File/Export/Messages drop down menu.
> I've been reluctant to try this until I'm ready to migrate all my
> email handling to MS Outlook and close Outlook Express. With
> thousands of files and scores of folders set up in MSOE over several
> years, I'll wait longer til I have enough time to have a chance to
> succeed with this. Outlook appears to have more features than Outlook
> Express. But it is also more complicated and probably takes longer to
> learn and set up the way I want. Also, with both Outlook and Outlook
> Express active, one takes priority over the other for incoming mail by
> unseen default, and I think it's Outlook, which again, I'm not fully
> ready for yet.
>
> The other option is to simply copy the folder where your MSOE files
> are stored on your hard drive, to a 2nd and different location. Took
> me a long time to find where they are stored, because unlike
> Compuserve's file cabinet which I was familiar with, MSOE folders are
> stored as .dbx (?database) files. My path was C/Windows/Application
> Data/Identities/{(a long alpha-numeric named
> folder)}/Microsoft/Outlook Express. If you have the same operating
> system as me (Windows Me), your path will probably be similar, except
> you may have different alpha-numeric characters for the 5th element
> in that path. This backup is mostly a raw data dump with the folders
> converted into data files, without separate message files. If you
> want to "access" that data, for instance if you lose your primary data
> in MSOE, you'll probably have to copy it and paste it back to the
> original location and then open MSOE.
>
> Bob/rjam24

Sorry I should have been more clear...you cut and paste the directory
info from that tab (which shows you where all your stuff is stored),
into the windows explorer addressbar (not internet explorer, though
technically it would work there), and it will explor to that particular
folder. You could write it dwon and then type it out but this would
take much more time). This is the same folder that you were hunting
around for that has DBX files. Now you just back up the CONTENTS of
this folder to a seperate hard drive, or a CD, and you have made a
backup of your OE files.

--
Night_Seer