"Pirated" .dbx File Recovery

Hello,

Problem: Unable to open/ restore messages from a file recovered from a
complete Windows backup (hard drive had been replaced following failure).
Looks like the recovered message file has been "pirated" by another program,
which can't open it either.

The recovered .dbx file has been saved to the desktop, but has an Autocad
icon, and is indentified as an Autocad file under "Properties" (Autocad is
installed on the same computer). Won't open with Autocad, double clicking
from the desktop, or from within the program itself (isn't visible in the
"Open" window). Changing the file's properties to open with OE6 doesn't
work, either. Same with trying to convert the file to another type- tried
MS Word, for example, but characters were illegible.

Please advise. Thanks.

Although it has the Autocad icon, does the file still have the dbx file
association? (i.e. File.dbx)? If it does, this /may/ work.

Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on the
Desktop. Open the new folder and then close OE. (You must do this). Go to
Windows Explorer and locate the Message Store folder for your OE identity,
but don't open it. Click on the Desktop and drag the file from the Desktop
in the right hand pane to the OE store folder in the left pane. Prompt - "Do
you want to overwrite......."? Click Yes.

*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store folder from it's default
location on drive C to another drive, drag the dbx file to a location on
that drive and not the Desktop.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Greg Lyons" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Problem: Unable to open/ restore messages from a file recovered from a
complete Windows backup (hard drive had been replaced following failure).
Looks like the recovered message file has been "pirated" by another
program, which can't open it either.

The recovered .dbx file has been saved to the desktop, but has an Autocad
icon, and is indentified as an Autocad file under "Properties" (Autocad is
installed on the same computer). Won't open with Autocad, double clicking
from the desktop, or from within the program itself (isn't visible in the
"Open" window). Changing the file's properties to open with OE6 doesn't
work, either. Same with trying to convert the file to another type- tried
MS Word, for example, but characters were illegible.

Please advise. Thanks.

OE DBX files do not normally have any file association. OE DBX files
not intended to ever be double clicked to be accessed.

File extensions not necessary unique. Any programmer can use any file
extension for any purpose. AutoCAD also uses DBX files, but they have
nothing to do with OE DBX files. The OE DBX files and AutoCAD DBX files
are not usable by the other program.

How to import a single mail folder (*.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
For an alternate description, see the last paragraph he
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx


--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm



"Greg Lyons" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Problem: Unable to open/ restore messages from a file recovered from
a complete Windows backup (hard drive had been replaced following
failure). Looks like the recovered message file has been "pirated" by
another program, which can't open it either.

The recovered .dbx file has been saved to the desktop, but has an
Autocad icon, and is indentified as an Autocad file under "Properties"
(Autocad is installed on the same computer). Won't open with Autocad,
double clicking from the desktop, or from within the program itself
(isn't visible in the "Open" window). Changing the file's properties
to open with OE6 doesn't work, either. Same with trying to convert
the file to another type- tried MS Word, for example, but characters
were illegible.

Please advise. Thanks.

"Michael Santovec" wrote in message
...
OE DBX files do not normally have any file association. OE DBX files not
intended to ever be double clicked to be accessed.

File extensions not necessary unique. Any programmer can use any file
extension for any purpose. AutoCAD also uses DBX files, but they have
nothing to do with OE DBX files. The OE DBX files and AutoCAD DBX files
are not usable by the other program.

How to import a single mail folder (*.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
For an alternate description, see the last paragraph he
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx


Its not the last paragraph anymore. G Try
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#imp1

steve



--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm



"Greg Lyons" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Problem: Unable to open/ restore messages from a file recovered from a
complete Windows backup (hard drive had been replaced following failure).
Looks like the recovered message file has been "pirated" by another
program, which can't open it either.

The recovered .dbx file has been saved to the desktop, but has an Autocad
icon, and is indentified as an Autocad file under "Properties" (Autocad
is installed on the same computer). Won't open with Autocad, double
clicking from the desktop, or from within the program itself (isn't
visible in the "Open" window). Changing the file's properties to open
with OE6 doesn't work, either. Same with trying to convert the file to
another type- tried MS Word, for example, but characters were illegible.

Please advise. Thanks.

Many thanks to all of you for the quick responses and your ideas. I tried
Bruce's path first... did the trick. Was prepared to systematically follow
your suggestions if that didn't work, Mike and Steve.

Answering your question, Bruce: The .dbx file extension was still
associated with the file on the desktop, apparently since Acad uses the same
extension, as Mike said. When I navigated to the current source message
folder to drop the offending file in, all files in the folder also had the
Acad icon. Why, I have no idea, but at this point, I'm not complaining. It
all seems to work (for the moment).

Thanks again.

Greg


"Steve Cochran" wrote in message
...

"Michael Santovec" wrote in message
...
OE DBX files do not normally have any file association. OE DBX files not
intended to ever be double clicked to be accessed.

File extensions not necessary unique. Any programmer can use any file
extension for any purpose. AutoCAD also uses DBX files, but they have
nothing to do with OE DBX files. The OE DBX files and AutoCAD DBX files
are not usable by the other program.

How to import a single mail folder (*.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
For an alternate description, see the last paragraph he
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx


Its not the last paragraph anymore. G Try
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#imp1

steve



--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm



"Greg Lyons" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Problem: Unable to open/ restore messages from a file recovered from a
complete Windows backup (hard drive had been replaced following
failure). Looks like the recovered message file has been "pirated" by
another program, which can't open it either.

The recovered .dbx file has been saved to the desktop, but has an
Autocad icon, and is indentified as an Autocad file under "Properties"
(Autocad is installed on the same computer). Won't open with Autocad,
double clicking from the desktop, or from within the program itself
(isn't visible in the "Open" window). Changing the file's properties to
open with OE6 doesn't work, either. Same with trying to convert the
file to another type- tried MS Word, for example, but characters were
illegible.

Please advise. Thanks.

YW. Glad it worked for you.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Greg Lyons" wrote in message
...
Many thanks to all of you for the quick responses and your ideas. I tried
Bruce's path first... did the trick. Was prepared to systematically
follow your suggestions if that didn't work, Mike and Steve.

Answering your question, Bruce: The .dbx file extension was still
associated with the file on the desktop, apparently since Acad uses the
same extension, as Mike said. When I navigated to the current source
message folder to drop the offending file in, all files in the folder also
had the Acad icon. Why, I have no idea, but at this point, I'm not
complaining. It all seems to work (for the moment).

Thanks again.

Greg


"Steve Cochran" wrote in message
...

"Michael Santovec" wrote in message
...
OE DBX files do not normally have any file association. OE DBX files
not intended to ever be double clicked to be accessed.

File extensions not necessary unique. Any programmer can use any file
extension for any purpose. AutoCAD also uses DBX files, but they have
nothing to do with OE DBX files. The OE DBX files and AutoCAD DBX files
are not usable by the other program.

How to import a single mail folder (*.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
For an alternate description, see the last paragraph he
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx


Its not the last paragraph anymore. G Try
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#imp1

steve



--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm



"Greg Lyons" wrote in message
...
Hello,

Problem: Unable to open/ restore messages from a file recovered from a
complete Windows backup (hard drive had been replaced following
failure). Looks like the recovered message file has been "pirated" by
another program, which can't open it either.

The recovered .dbx file has been saved to the desktop, but has an
Autocad icon, and is indentified as an Autocad file under "Properties"
(Autocad is installed on the same computer). Won't open with Autocad,
double clicking from the desktop, or from within the program itself
(isn't visible in the "Open" window). Changing the file's properties to
open with OE6 doesn't work, either. Same with trying to convert the
file to another type- tried MS Word, for example, but characters were
illegible.

Please advise. Thanks.