[RESOLVED] Deleted emails

[Dr Seven]

I've seen on more than one occasion the shows on TV that show the cop expert searching someone's computer for deleted emails. I've been told that even though you delete emails from your trash box they are still on your hard drive somewhere. How does one find them? If I delete an email by mistake it would be handy to find it again.

I have only tried using HELP on my computer, but that didn't tell me anything or else I didn't understand what it was telling me.

Can I get some help with this?

[fink]

Any file that's deleted via the standard Windows delete bin can be recovered pretty easily with readily available file recovery software.. many of them free.

Emails that are deleted in some email programs like outlook express are only "disappeared" from the OE user interface they aren't even deleted to the trash bin (or equivalent windows delete routine) and can very easily be recovered by using various types of email recovery software. They are stored in the deleted items.dbx file.

So it's actually a compound problem... first you have to properly and completely delete the old only-invisible-to-the-user emails from the deleted emails file then you have to erase them from the drive so even deleted file recovery software cant find them.

Depending on which email program you use there would be a different solution to the first part of the equation. If it's outlook express you need to compact the email folders.

http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

Then you need to wipe the free space on the drive so they're permanently gone. There are many programs that do this.. windowwasher is one, bcwipe is another... neither is free. I'm not aware of a freeware program that does it though... perhaps someone else here is.

To find the old emails, if you're using outlook express, you'd need a little program like dbxtract to open the deleted emails folder prior to it's being compacted. For other email programs you may be able to use a basic file recovery program like "Restoration file recovery" but you'd need to know the name(s) of the specific email programs email folders before you started searching for the deleted emails.

[Dr Seven]

I went to CNET.com to find this program you are talking about, dbxtract, but couldn't find it. Any clue as to where to look for this program?

[SpywareDr]

Google is your friend

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

[Dr Seven]

Thanks for trying to help.

First of all I did try google. Honest. But it showed no results. I mean I tried it on my own before you sent the link to google. I don't know why it gave you results and not me. I put in dbxtract.

Second of all I downloaded the program to recover files, but it was only a demo and unless one had the registeration key (which was not given) then one couldn't recover the files.

And third of all I just wanted it to show me email files. I even put in the filters for that, but it gave me all the files I've ever deleted. And, anyway, the few email files I saw it didn't tell me who they were from so how would I know if I wanted to recover it? You would think the program would be able to find the deleted emails and tell who they were from. After all, that's how they're listed in Outlook Express. Why would that format change when they were deleted?

What am I missing here? Is there a program a person can download for free that will actually work and work easy enough that one doesn't have to be a computer expert to use it?

[SpywareDr]

Instructions on how to: Use "DBXtract" To Extract Messages In Outlook Express DBX Files...
http://www.updatexp.com/tip23.html

[Dr Seven]

Again, Thanks for trying to help, but I see by the instructions or information that is provided in the link you included that there is no way to recover individual emails. Since I asked if that was possible and it isn't then I guess I'll just have to give up. Especially in the light of the fact that they want a person to pay a small charge. I would hardly, I'm sure you understand, want to pay for a program that isn't able to be do what I want or need for it to do.

So, thanks anyway. At least you tried to help.

BTW, I always have a real hard time finding the place where one can mark the thread resolved. Perhaps someone can put that somewhere close to the reply area so it's real obvious? I've looked all over today and can't find it. I would gladly mark this resolved if I could find -- thread tools, I believe it is called.

So now after I post this reply I then find thread tools. I don't believe that is the best placement. It would seem to me to make more sense to have thread tools available BEFORE one posts so that one can do it all in one step.

[SpywareDr]

Been a while but, I did use DBXtract once to recover a customer's roughly 2,000 Outlook Express Inbox messages. From what I remember DBXtract saved them as individual files and used the Subject line as a filename. I was then also able to somehow get them imported into Outlook. Don't remember the exact steps I used now but I do remember it being a slow and tedious project.

--

Have you tried looking in an Outlook Express file with Notepad? You can actually see message content if you scroll down far enough.

Outlook Express stores messages in single files. For example, on the computer I'm using right now, Outlook Express is setup to store message in this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\SpywareDr\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{ADB1F817-514C-4C8B-B041-62663357884B}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

The files in that folder are:

Folders.dbx
Inbox.dbx
Offline.dbx
Outbox.dbx
Pop3uidl.dbx
Read.dbx

Open that "Inbox.dbx" file with Notepad (or Wordpad) and scroll way down.