outlook express messages missing after compacting interruption

[bodacious1]

my friend turned her computer off while outlook express 6 was still compacting. She also restored the bak files from the recycle bin (so they're back in the OE message folder on xp). All her folders still show, except a few (her own folders she created and also the inbox) are empty.

I've spent an hour or two on different days trying to fix, but no luck. For a couple of the empty folders, I've tried renaming the dbx, then renaming the bak to dbx, reopening OE, no luck. I've tried deleting thse bak files, then re-restoring them per suggestions online. I've downloaded and tried two softwares to fix this with no luck (oe repair toolbox and backup toolbox).

Any other suggestions?

 

[DerpRAR]

I unfortunately deal with your exact issue weekly. I have found that in many instances the DBX files are either missing or completely corrupted. That said, I have found that if you import OE mail into Windows live mail it may repair/restore some of the mail. I do a lot of mail moves from OE to Outlook 2010 and find that windows live mail is a necessary evil if you want the transition to occur smoothly. Hope this helps.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/import-messages-into-windows-mail-from-outlook-express