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What is the extension of the message files in the profile folder - the file containing the emails, not the .msf file?

  • 4 odgovori
  • 1 ima ovaj problem
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  • Posljednji odgovor poslao Andrew-vdM

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I need to recover a lost Inbox (lost due to a crash). The Inbox file in the profile folder was somehow wiped clean as though the folder was compacted and a few new emails were added. The file size is now a few hundred Kb when it should be a few hundred Mb. I have run a file recovery on that disc but now have thousands of files with names like Raw122354 and don't know what to look for because the Inbox file has no extension. I can eliminate those with file extensions I know but that still leaves way too many to go through.

I guess I also need to ask if this is a waste of time, if I have any chance of recovering the file?

I need to recover a lost Inbox (lost due to a crash). The Inbox file in the profile folder was somehow wiped clean as though the folder was compacted and a few new emails were added. The file size is now a few hundred Kb when it should be a few hundred Mb. I have run a file recovery on that disc but now have thousands of files with names like Raw122354 and don't know what to look for because the Inbox file has no extension. I can eliminate those with file extensions I know but that still leaves way too many to go through. I guess I also need to ask if this is a waste of time, if I have any chance of recovering the file?

Izabrano rješenje

Mail files are text files, so yes, you can open them with a text editor. I wouldn't try to open a Gigabyte mail file with Notepad though. There is no need to rename the file to a .txt extension, it can be opened with any text editor regardless.

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the Inbox file has no extension.

This is already the answer. Mail files don't have a file extension.

I guess I also need to ask if this is a waste of time, if I have any chance of recovering the file?

Don't hold your breath.

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I was just wondering if the extension was perhaps hidden. I suppose the obvious implication now is that that means I should try to recognize it by it's lack of extension. That's actually a great help. Looking at the folder again, I see it narrows the field down to only a few files.

One more question: any advice on how to examine the contents of those files? Windows doesn't know what to do with extensionless files. ... maybe give them a .txt extension and try to view them in Notepad?

Izmjenjeno od strane Andrew-vdM

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Odabrano rješenje

Mail files are text files, so yes, you can open them with a text editor. I wouldn't try to open a Gigabyte mail file with Notepad though. There is no need to rename the file to a .txt extension, it can be opened with any text editor regardless.

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I used Large Text File Viewer to check out the likely files from my recovery and no luck. I guess it was overwritten by the new one that Thunderbird created after the crash.

Thanks for your help. If you hadn't told me the mail files were text files I'd have wasted another whack of time trying to find whatever file viewer I might need.

I guess what I need to do is try to set up a script to run Mozbackup regularly because the manual method is too unreliable!

Izmjenjeno od strane Andrew-vdM