Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)
OK, I'm ham-fisted.
DID have a HDD (partitioned) with OEM XPHome plus various apps/data on C:, a
rather old backup on D: with other data.
Experimented with a full XP Pro installation on a new HDD, for the
experience - involved disconnecting/switching drives on the ribbon cable.
To cut a long story short - since I couldn't find a better way to "unload"
XPPro, (and "format" doesn't do it, it's still there, hidden away) I
d/loaded HDD disk tools, low level formatted the new HDD to restore factory
setting. No probs. I was left with a "working" original drive. Installed it
as master, new one as slave ...the latter seen in BIOS, but not accessible
(not yet formatted).
PC worked fine for 20 mins, then suddenly cut out. Auto-started (slowly)
with message "XP recovered from fatal error" - worked for a few mins, did
same again, except this time it's DEAD, as in dodo.
Guessed (correctly) that it was not the disk, but the ribbon cable. Replaced
it. The BIOS reported faulty master HDD ID.
Switched the HDD's on the cable, inserted XPPro CD to format/load XPPro on
the new HDD.
Surprised that not only does it format new HDD - it also did a full CHKDSK
on the slave(old) drive. Vast amounts of deletions/corrections to the files
it found there. Needless to say, XPHome totally corrupt, as are many of the
files. Easy to spot, the directory paths/filenames have non-ASCII
characters. However, SOME are intact/recoverable - long job, but getting
there. As for the 2nd partition - no problems there (AND back-up
restoration worked).
PROBLEM - I have some (not all) .dbx and mbx files from "old" OE6. And -
they will open (oddly, with Notepad!!) - I can see/read the ASCII messages.
What I don't have is the WAB (address book). I want to import them into
current OE6, but "Import" will not work.
Pro OE6 is working BUT - on installation, the "outbox" SHOULD have been
associated with Internet Explorer - it wasn't (corrected, all others checked
too) In the "old" OE6, the dbx files are in the ...ProgFiles\Outlook
Express directory. In XPPro, they are located here -
C:\Documents and Settings\Me\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{71E090F5-A6F6-43A0-BFEA-50ED38B17393}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express
(Outlook Express is in the ... ProgFiles directory, contains no .dbx/wab
files - they're all in the extended path above).
Is this a faulty installation of OE6 - remember it is a virgin installation,
not an upgrade? Or, is this convoluted path correct (i.e different for XPPro
v/s XPHome)?
Finally - Is there a way to get the (old) data files into Outlook Express,
other than the "import" thing? Copies are currently on my desktop in XPPro -
navigating to there from "import" does not work.
Apols for long post! Thought it was important to describe exactly what
happened (and exact status of data).
Sincerely, Len
OK, I'm ham-fisted.
DID have a HDD (partitioned) with OEM XPHome plus various apps/data on C:, a
rather old backup on D: with other data.
Experimented with a full XP Pro installation on a new HDD, for the
experience - involved disconnecting/switching drives on the ribbon cable.
To cut a long story short - since I couldn't find a better way to "unload"
XPPro, (and "format" doesn't do it, it's still there, hidden away) I
d/loaded HDD disk tools, low level formatted the new HDD to restore factory
setting. No probs. I was left with a "working" original drive. Installed it
as master, new one as slave ...the latter seen in BIOS, but not accessible
(not yet formatted).
PC worked fine for 20 mins, then suddenly cut out. Auto-started (slowly)
with message "XP recovered from fatal error" - worked for a few mins, did
same again, except this time it's DEAD, as in dodo.
Guessed (correctly) that it was not the disk, but the ribbon cable. Replaced
it. The BIOS reported faulty master HDD ID.
Switched the HDD's on the cable, inserted XPPro CD to format/load XPPro on
the new HDD.
Surprised that not only does it format new HDD - it also did a full CHKDSK
on the slave(old) drive. Vast amounts of deletions/corrections to the files
it found there. Needless to say, XPHome totally corrupt, as are many of the
files. Easy to spot, the directory paths/filenames have non-ASCII
characters. However, SOME are intact/recoverable - long job, but getting
there. As for the 2nd partition - no problems there (AND back-up
restoration worked).
PROBLEM - I have some (not all) .dbx and mbx files from "old" OE6. And -
they will open (oddly, with Notepad!!) - I can see/read the ASCII messages.
What I don't have is the WAB (address book). I want to import them into
current OE6, but "Import" will not work.
Pro OE6 is working BUT - on installation, the "outbox" SHOULD have been
associated with Internet Explorer - it wasn't (corrected, all others checked
too) In the "old" OE6, the dbx files are in the ...ProgFiles\Outlook
Express directory. In XPPro, they are located here -
C:\Documents and Settings\Me\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{71E090F5-A6F6-43A0-BFEA-50ED38B17393}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express
(Outlook Express is in the ... ProgFiles directory, contains no .dbx/wab
files - they're all in the extended path above).
Is this a faulty installation of OE6 - remember it is a virgin installation,
not an upgrade? Or, is this convoluted path correct (i.e different for XPPro
v/s XPHome)?
Finally - Is there a way to get the (old) data files into Outlook Express,
other than the "import" thing? Copies are currently on my desktop in XPPro -
navigating to there from "import" does not work.
Apols for long post! Thought it was important to describe exactly what
happened (and exact status of data).
Sincerely, Len
Try this OEBackup from here:
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