Memory Stick and transferring information

My OE has a stack load of correspondence that I don't want to lose, that I feel its best to transfer onto a memory stick or such.

I know I touched on this once before, but have forgotten the answer:o

Firstly is a memory stick the "go" for my purpose, and secondly how do I find out how much data is on OE so I know the memory stick I buy is going to be big enough, or so I know I have to divide up my information in their current folders and spread it out over a couple of memory sticks.

Does this make sense? Am I on the right track?

swaggie;161508 wrote: My OE has a stack load of correspondence that I don't want to lose, that I feel its best to transfer onto a memory stick or such.

I know I touched on this once before, but have forgotten the answer:o

Firstly is a memory stick the "go" for my purpose, and secondly how do I find out how much data is on OE so I know the memory stick I buy is going to be big enough, or so I know I have to divide up my information in their current folders and spread it out over a couple of memory sticks.

Does this make sense? Am I on the right track?

Firstly, I'd be very surprised if any memory stick (even the smallest one) you could buy these days would not be adequate for your email, so don't worry. Probably you can get 1Gb for not much money, which I assert will be fine. If it's not, then buy two!

Secondly, how do you propose to export your messages from Outlook Express? I have mentioned this before- Outlook Express makes it hard to locate and export *your* data. I suggest you research that first. If you had installed Thunderbird (or indeed anything but Outlook) then you would be happy, but since you didn't, then you must suffer the consequences:

www.codeconscious.com/outlook-express/ex...outlook-express.html

All is not lost. You could install Thunderbird now, and *import* your mail from Outlook Express. Then your messages would be in a well-known, open format, in an easy to find location on the disk.

A

ame;161511 wrote:

Secondly, how do you propose to export your messages from Outlook Express? I have mentioned this before- Outlook Express makes it hard to locate and export *your* data. I suggest you research that first. If you had installed Thunderbird (or indeed anything but Outlook) then you would be happy, but since you didn't, then you must suffer the consequences:

A

Excellent question and not one I had given much time to. I "thought" I would be able to left mouse key click on each folder and drag it across, but perhaps not.
I did so want to avoid having to transfer each individual email, although the up side of that could be a clean up of duplicate emails....

I shall read up on your link shortly. Many thanks for the thoughts!

First, memory sticks are the *floppy of today*, with a 2Gb costing less than NZ$10, and a 4 less than NZ$19. To think I paid $120 for my 1Gb 3 years ago (but it is still going strong). Oh, and I only know of one person who needs over 2Gb of storage for his email archive, mad bugger doesn't know when to clean out the rubbish. He believes in keeping spam for 'documentation purposes'.

OE files are stored in a series of mail databases hidden on your computer. If you DnD an email, it will appear as a .eml file, not much use to you. Ame is correct in that you may need to convert or extract your mails so they are in a commonly used format (like .txt, .doc etc).

What he describes is using Thunderbird (a pretty good email program in itself). TB will go off and copy all your emails in OE, and save them in a good known format, which you can then backup to memory stick. OE should have your emails, still retrieves your emails, still stores them.
You can probably periodically use TB to extract your emails for backup.
Or you could switch to using TB as your email program (just forget OE), and your files will always be ready for backup.

swaggie;161508 wrote: My OE has a stack load of correspondence that I don't want to lose, that I feel its best to transfer onto a memory stick or such... Firstly is a memory stick the "go" for my purpose

I know exactly how you feel Swaggie []

If I was to lose all the e-mails I have stored in OE, it would be a disaster to say the least. I have more than 5GB of e-mail messages which is too much even to fit on a single DVD, so every few months I run a backup which is now up to 5 DVDs and includes everything including my OE folders, Pictures and Music.

However, it is a real pain doing it, and so I don't do it as often as I should. I'm hanging out for a Blu-Ray drive with 50GB capacity when they become a bit more affordable.

Inger now has a considerable amount of data in her OE folders as well as Herd Book and Pedigree data that she would be spitting tacks if she lost, so I set up a One Click backup solution for her, using a 16GB USB Flash Drive that cost me $99. She doesn't have anything like that amount of data at present (less than 4GB currently), but I thought it best to allow room for growth

swaggie;161508 wrote: ...secondly how do I find out how much data is on OE so I know the memory stick I buy is going to be big enough, or so I know I have to divide up my information in their current folders and spread it out over a couple of memory sticks.

Others around here don't seem to like OE very much, but it is the only e-mail program I have ever used, and it does the job for me just fine, so I don't see any reason to change [^]

It isn't really that difficult to locate the folder where your e-mail messages are stored. On one of my XP PCs, the e-mail storage folder is located here:

C:Documents and SettingsGrantLocal SettingsApplication DataIdentities{64017712-2A14-4861-8403-FABD6AAF5F93}MicrosoftOutlook Express

Using TOOLS | OPTIONS | MAINTENANCE | STORE FOLDER in OE will elicit this information, so it isn't really that hard to find [xx(]

Usually, the cryptic string after Identities will change from one PC to another, even though your User ID is the same.

If you navigate to this folder using Windows Explorer, you can quickly see how big the various folders are, and drag and drop them to a USB Flash Drive.

It really is that simple so I don't know why Ame makes such a big deal of it :rolleyes:

Sure, if you copy the files in the manner I have described, you cannot access them in any other program. But as I understand Swaggie's post, that is not what she is trying to do. She just wants to make a backup which could be restored back onto her PC should disaster strike...

Easy Peasy...

Good thread Swaggie I too need to do this using OE.

Initially upon reading Grant's post I didn't know whether I was Arthur or Martha but have since found everything exactly where he said it would be - thanks Grant I'm all set to transfer heaps onto a memory stick in the morning.

GrantK;161585 wrote:

Inger now has a considerable amount of data in her OE folders as well as Herd Book and Pedigree data that she would be spitting tacks if she lost, so I set up a One Click backup solution for her, using a 16GB USB Flash Drive that cost me $99. She doesn't have anything like that amount of data at present (less than 4GB currently), but I thought it best to allow room for growth

Or you could have bought a 4Gb USB drive for $20 and then next year get 8Gb for less and the following year 16Gb for even less.

Have you tested your backups? i.e. have you checked to see that they can be restored successfully?

GrantK;161585 wrote:
Others around here don't seem to like OE very much, but it is the only e-mail program I have ever used, and it does the job for me just fine, so I don't see any reason to change [^]

It really is that simple so I don't know why Ame makes such a big deal of it :rolleyes:

Sure, if you copy the files in the manner I have described, you cannot access them in any other program. But as I understand Swaggie's post, that is not what she is trying to do. She just wants to make a backup which could be restored back onto her PC should disaster strike...

Actually, she said she wanted them on a memory stick because she didn't want to lose them. But you've answered the question right there. The reason it is a big deal is that you can not access *your* data in any other program. This is entirely the point.

To my mind, not losing the mail message implies not physically losing copies of them, and not losing access to them. Having them in a closed, proprietary format is next to useless.

A

PS Don't forget your address book...

ask-leo.com/how_do_i_move_my_outlook_exp..._my_new_machine.html

ame;161623 wrote: Have you tested your backups? i.e. have you checked to see that they can be restored successfully?

Yes, definitely. I have done a virgin install of Windows XP and then copied the e-mail folders across from the backup media. All my e-mail messages appeared just as they were before.

ame;161623 wrote: The reason it is a big deal is that you can not access *your* data in any other program. This is entirely the point.

No, it's not the point at all.

Nowhere did Swaggie say that she needed access to the e-mail messages from a different program. So long as in the event of a disaster, she can restore her system to a working condition as it was before, then that would meet her needs. Obviously, to use the same program is the simplest way of doing this.

ame;161623 wrote: To my mind, not losing the mail message implies not physically losing copies of them, and not losing access to them. Having them in a closed, proprietary format is next to useless.

Yes, so you keep saying Ame...

In that case, all the copies of my e-mail messages which are residing in the Outlook Express proprietary format are "useless" to me and have been so for the past 10 or more years???

Give me a break :rolleyes:

Can memory sticks be fixed if they have been chewed to bits by a Max???

maggies mum;161676 wrote: Can memory sticks be fixed if they have been chewed to bits by a Max???

Ignore the pretty plastic casing and have a look at the USB connector and circuit board which is attached to it. If those 2 parts are intact, then you have a good chance that the data can be recovered.

Plug it in and try it while keeping your fingers on any IC chips that are visible. If any of them get hot, then quickly unplug it, but if not, then you will probably be able to recover the data.

There's nothing left Grant! LOL, just mangled mess lol. Nothing on it luckily, it was a spare one left in the camera case...............which has also been chewed!

I bought an 8g flashdrive and dragged and dropped all my email folders onto it. I found initially that 1) all the emails were then alphabetically arranged so I had to search and 2) that I thought I couldn't read attachments I had sent. However I was just opening the files and folders directly. Once I "opened with" OE it worked perfectly and I could see all the attachments etc etc. To find a particualr one I just ahev to do a search on a name or word and there it is.

My flashdrive survived being seriously bent - I noted to OH that the laptop wouldn't work unless it was plugged in (to power) and he tipped it up to check battery unit - my "brain" as I call it was still plugged in and ended up somewhat u-shaped. After he kinda got the message that something was wrong he simply unplugged it and gently bent it straight again. Fortunately for him, no problem!!! Not to be recommended though. Don't think it would have survived our Max's attentions though

eelcat;161699 wrote: I bought an 8g flashdrive and dragged and dropped all my email folders onto it. I found initially that 1) all the emails were then alphabetically arranged so I had to search and 2) that I thought I couldn't read attachments I had sent. However I was just opening the files and folders directly. Once I "opened with" OE it worked perfectly and I could see all the attachments etc etc. To find a particualr one I just ahev to do a search on a name or word and there it is.

What you are actually doing here is Exporting the files from Outlook Express as explained on this page via the website that Ame linked to earlier:

Outlook Express' drag and drop functionality can be used to do a bulk export!

It turns out to be really simple. Select a bunch of messages, drag and drop them into a folder on your desktop or a folder in Windows Explorer. They will be automatically exported as *.eml files. The subject is used as the file name and where there are duplicates a counter is inserted in the name.

Carry out some tests to ensure that all your emails have been exported properly. Eg. Count them, check attachments, ensure they are files your computer can read and are not corrupted, etc.

Drag and drop can be used to "import" as well. Drag a .eml file from windows explorer and into an Outlook Folder and voila, there it is.

There is some good info. on that site, thanks Ame

By dragging and dropping directly from Outlook Express you are exporting/importing as explained above.

What I was referring to in my post above, is as follows:

- Close Outlook Express
- Copy the files using Windows Explorer

a) It will be much faster
b) You maintain the file structure exactly as it is with no need to search for names or words in order to find a particular e-mail message you are looking for

If you copy everything from the Store Folder mentioned above onto a USB Flash Drive, then it can easily be restored later should you experience a system meltdown [!] e.g. from Hard Drive failure, Software Corruption etc.

I have done this on several occasions while migrating from an old PC to a new one, or on one occasion when my Hard Disk failed. Here is what you do:

1) Install Windows on the new PC, including Outlook Express

2) You will end up with a blank, skeletal set of files in the Store Folder including:

Inbox.dbx
Outbox.dbx
Offline.dbx
Sent Items.dbx
Drafts.dbx
Deleted Items.dbx
Folders.dbx
Pop3uidl.dbx

(The last file contains your ISP account information once you have set it up)

3) Make sure that Outlook Express is NOT running.

4) Copy your backed up files from the USB Flash Drive directly into the Store Folder (the blank set of files created by Outlook Express will be overwritten).

5) Start Outlook Express and you should find all your e-mail messages intact.

6) If, like me, you prefer to keep all your Deleted Items for reference until some later time:

- Go Immediately into TOOLS | OPTIONS | MAINTENANCE

- Untick the option that says "Empty messages from the Deleted Items folder on exit"

Otherwise you will lose all your deleted items the first time you exit Outlook Express because this option is selected by default at installation.

Following this procedure will get you up and running again on your new/restored PC with all e-mail messages and folders exactly as they were :cool:

P.S. There's one extra thing you will need to do if you value the contents of your address book (thanks to Ame for the useful links posted earlier):

Open up the address book either from the accessories menu item on your Start menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+B in Outlook Express. In the address book, select File, Export, and click on Address Book (WAB).... You can now select a location and filename for your address book to be placed. You can copy it to a CD, USB Flash Drive, whatever.

Then on the new/restored PC...

From within Outlook Express: File, Import, Address Book..., select the address book we exported above, and import from the CD/USB Flash Drive.

Many thanks for your thoughts everyone, I shall be off purchasing a memory stick this week to copy everything onto/into?.

where were you a month ago GrantK when I did mine:o? still should be able to resurrect some form of order following some of these. Thanks