My old Compaq desktop motherboard died. I bought a new Dell. I put my old harddrive into an external case and transferred all the old files to my new hard drive. I copied everything I needed, however I still needed to transfer my outlook express email folders. I went to my new outlook express on the dell and opened it. I right clicked on the inbox so I could find the path and directory in which to find the inbox file, then went down the same path on my old harddrive to find the file and paste it into the new directory (like I did when I switched my last computers) and when I go on my old harddrive it was blank. There was no outlook express folder at all. I searched for outlook on my new harddrive and it came up with zero results. I also searched for all *.dbx files (I think that is the extension I used) and I found none. I called compaq about this and they say that because I did not boot to the old harddrive that it didn't go through certain registry files and that I would need to boot to it to get the outlook express files. I went to a couple computer stores around here to see if they could do it and they say you don't have to boot to it, but seem to explain that I am not looking in the right spot but I think they are just assuming that I am dumb or something. Anyone ever run into this or know how to access those files? I don't know how to boot to it? I put the harddrive in an older compaq and tried to boot to it but nothing happened and I don't know anyone with any older compaqs? Any help would be huge, I would hate to lose that last 10 years of saved emails.
Make sure you search your old drive for the *.dbx files. If you are using Windows' Find.. tool, make sure you search for All files and select Search system folders, Search hidden files and folders and Search subfolders under Advanced options. You don't need to boot the drive to locate the .dbx files. That's just bad information from Compaq/HP. They probably just wanted to find the easy way out of the phone call. =) Once you've located the files, copy them to a temporary folder on your new disc (say c:\old_emails\), open up Outlook Express, and import your emails from the folder (File, Import, Emails or something -- I don't have OE handy right now). You'll probably also want to search for the *.wab files from your old HDD. They contain your Address Book. I hope you can recover your files with these tips! (Edit: fixed typo)
Thanks man. I could swear that I did search for all *.dbx files. I even searched for "outlook" files or folders and found nothing. But I'll double check again tonight. I am not sure about checking system or hidden files, but the drive is not my boot drive, it is in an external harddrive case so I don't think the computer would think they are system files.
System and hidden files are defined by file attributes, so moving a drive to an external enclosure doesn't make a difference. They'll still be system files even if the drive letter changes. You'll definitely need to check the options for those if you want to locate the files.
