OE inbox empty ?

[delete]

For some strange reason all inbox messages are gone (OE 5).
When i look at the inbox.dbx file, it is still 81 Mb. So they still seem to be there.
I've checked the view menu, all set to show everything.
The other folders , sent/deleted/drafts, are working and showing fine.
When i receive new mail it does show up in the inbox and stay there. Just the mail i already had is not showing :(
Hope somebody can help me.

[Paul Komski]

Try compacting the inbox; that may or may not work. If it doesnt work the inbox is probably corrupted.

Close OE and rename the inbox.dbx file to say inbox.old. A brand new inbox will be created when you next reopen OE that should now work OK. If you need your old mails hidden in the original inbox there is recovery software that should be able to dig them out for you.

[delete]

Hello Paul, tnx for the reply. Compacting didn't help.
I'm afraid i'm gonna need some recovery software.
Are there any freeware programs you or any1 else knows of ?

[Sylvander]

Are you running WinXP?

And if so, did you perhaps jump back to an earlier "Restore Point"?

Do you have any backups that would include the "inbox.dbx" file as it was when the emails were present in the inbox?

I deliberately moved all my email ".dbx" files [and all my other personal & non-personal data files too] off the C: partition, so that when I restore an image backup of C: to restore a previous Windows and Programs arrangement, none of the data files are affected [they don't "jump back" to an earlier time along with the programs].

[Paul Komski]

I would try opening the dbx file with a decent text editor such as EditPadLite from http://www.editpadlite.com/editpadlite.html. There will be much gobbledy-gook but you should be able to decipher the contents if what you want is still in the folder. DBxtract is the other program that may help you with recovery. http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx