I had a Windows 95 computer on which I have two files that I need to
open and save on my new computer. These are old emails that were
copied to my hard drive. I have opened both my sent files and deleted
files with notepad. I manage to read some of the emails but several of
them come out as gibberish.

I need to be able to read all these emails. Is there a program that I
can use to reconstruct these emails or is there someone that I can
send these files for then to reconstruct?

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Request for Question Clarification by clouseau-ga on 04 Jan 2003 15:08 PST

Hello ochi68,

I may be able to help but need more information from you:

1. What email program were you using on the Windows 95 machine? Was it
Outlook Express? Do you have the same program on your new machine?

2. When you say they were copied to your hardrive, do you mean that
they were read in email and either kept in the inbox or another saved
folder, or the messages were saved individually, perhaps as a .eml
file? Please provide as much detail as possible here.

3. Can you upload the files in question somewhere on the Internet so
that I can view them? Researchers are not allowed to have direct
contact with askers, so I can not email you, nor can you email me. But
I can retrieve and look at files you upload to the net if you provide
me the url.

4. When you say you have opened your sent and deleted files with
notepad, exactly which files do you mean? Are they sent.dbx and
deleted.dbx or other files?

I'll look for your reply.

-=clouseau=-

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Clarification of Question by ochi68-ga on 06 Jan 2003 20:08 PST

a) Thr program that I was using was Outlook Express.
b) The emails were copied to the hard drive after they were read.
c) Enclose please see sample of what I would read when I open this
file--From: Anita Mccleary <mccleary@gvtc.com>
> To: 'Rossana Briceņo' <rossanab@mcs.net>
> Subject: Christmas Lights
> Date: Sunday, December 07, 1997 1:33 PM
> 
> Rossana, here are the Christmas Lights.  Just click to open and then
double click to see them.   

------=_NextPart_000_01BD049A.C097F220
Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="Christmas Lights.exe"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Description: Christmas Lights (Application)
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Christmas Lights.exe"
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I hope this can help you out.

---

Request for Question Clarification by clouseau-ga on 06 Jan 2003 20:30 PST

Hello again,

We are making progress, but I need more specific information to be
sure I can help you. I am reasonably confident I can, but would hate
to post an answer that is less than accurate. Consequently, please
tell me in more detail:

When you say copied to the hardrive, what exactly do you mean? If you
are reading in Outlook Express, you can save to an Outlook Express
folder, or you can save as a file with a .eml extension. Please tell
me EXACTLY what you did to copy these to your hard drive.

OR, did you mean you copied the inbox.dbx and/or sent.dbx FOLDERS on
your hardrive?

If you can just provide a bit more detail here, I am confident I can
solve this problem for you and explain why you are having difficulty.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-

Hello ochi68,


Thank you for your question.

I am interpreting your latest comment to mean that you do, indeed,
have copies of your original sent.dbx and inbox.dbx files. If this is
the case, we can get your emails to be readable on your new machine.

First, make a copy of each of these files to be sure you do not lose
or corrupt your data. Take the copies and rename them, and for the
sake of this tutorial, name them oldinbox.dbx and oldsent.dbx.

Now, go to your new machine and open Outlook Express.

Go to File - New and then Folder and create a new folder called
oldinbox (do not use the .dbx extension here). Make sure you have
Local Folders selected when you click OK.

Now, do this again for oldsent.

Now close Outlook Express.

Now, take the copied files you have created - oldinbox.dbx and 
oldsent.dbx and move them to the new machine in the
Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express folder. If for some
reason this folder does not exist on your machine, go to the Start
Menu - Find - Files or Folders and search your entire drive for *.dbx.
You will find the folder where your Outlook Express .dbx files are
being stored. Move your new files to this location.

Now, open Outlook Express. Be sure that your folder list is visible
and, if not, go to View - Layout and make sure Folder List is checked.

You should see your new folders - oldsent and oldinbox listed here
along with Inbox, Outbox and Sent Items and any other folders you may
have. Click one of the new folders (oldinbox or oldsent) and all of
your old emails from that folder should be available.


I trust this will help you to read your old emails. From the example
you posted, the emails are not corrupt, but can not be read by notepad
as you have noticed. They need to be accessed by Outlook Express and
the above method will get your old files accessible on your new
machine.

If this should fail to work anything require further explanation,
please do post a Request for Clarification prior to rating this answer
and I will be pleased to assist further.


Best Regards,

-=clouseau=-

Hi,

There is an article on the Microsoft site explaining how to move
Outlook Express data to a new computer:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/usingwindows/work/articles/901Jan/nc4.asp

Hope this helps
Regards
Bio

Yes I copied it from the inbox.dbx and sent.dbx folders on my hard drive.