Any tips on recovering a lost Inbox? My Win7 crashed and the Inbox was wiped, incl. the Inbox file in the profile folder. Inbox.msf reset not working.
After the crash, I started T-bird and the Inbox was empty and it immediately started downloading new messages. It looks, in the profile folder, like the the Inbox was compacted after all the messages were deleted. So the Inbox file is only a few Kb in size when it should be over 100Mb. All it has are the few new messages.
I am trying to run a disc recovery in the hope of finding something that way. Do I have any hope since the Inbox file was never deleted or emptied from the recycle bin?
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To diagnose problems with Thunderbird, try one of the following:
- Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.
- Restart the operating system in safe mode with Networking. This loads only the very basics needed to start your computer while enabling an Internet connection. Click on your operating system for instructions on how to start in safe mode: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX
- If safe mode for the operating system fixes the issue, there's other software in your computer that's causing problems. Possibilities include but not limited to: AV scanning, virus/malware, background downloads such as program updates.
Thanks, Kushagra. That was one of the first things I tried - that and resetting the msf file - but like I said, the Inbox file was also wiped and the new emails added. It's as though the folder was compacted after all the emails were deleted but I never ran a compact.
I guess what I need to know is if I have any chance of recovering the file via data recovery?
I am running a recovery on the disc (to another disc) and have a folder full of thousands of strange files with names like Raw123329. Most of them have extensions I know. One bit of Mozilla info that would really help is to know what to look for. The Inbox file in the profile folder does not have an extension, so I have no idea what to look for.
How can I get a rough view of the contents of those files?
Well, that was a dismal waste of time. I used Large Text File Viewer to check out the likely files from my recovery and no luck. The Inbox is gone. I guess it was overwritten by the new one that Thunderbird created after the crash. If only T-bird had told me there was no Inbox instead of just making a new one. I have to figure out how to make Mozbackup do an automatic thing on a more regular basis because I can't be counted on to do it!
windows does have a task scheduler.
But check your ani virus for your inbox in quarantine. It is not unheard of for them to grab the whole folder for one mail. It is normal actually. If it happened at the wrong time a system crash could have ensued.