Thread: Importing old emails from previous HDD

I recently replaced my hard drive with a bigger one and re-installed Win XP. Is there any way I can recover the large number of past emails in my previous installation of Outlook Express on the old hard drive, and transfer them into my present installation on the new hard drive?

I've tried the Win XP Files & Settings transfer wizard, but failed because I've no idea where all my old emails are stored within the Win XP directory on the old hard drive.

Try this link for instructions :-
http://www.freebits.co.uk/backoutlook.html

Thank you for the link, Ferret.

I have followed the instructions I found at that location, and now have a directory (folder) on my hard drive, containing a collection of .dbx files holding my emails from the old hard drive.

How do I import these files into my current installation of Outlook Express? I have had a good look round the menu options but nothing seems to offer much prospect of bringing the .dbx files in.

I solved this one myself. I must be getting better at this.

Just to recap, I wanted to import my email files from a previous installation of Outlook Express, following a computer motherboard failure necessitating a complete rebuild of my hard drive.

With a heavy heart, I tried to access the Win XP help pages at Microsoft.com. I say with "a heavy heart" because I have always found any 'help' on that site to be a) almost impossible to find; b) unintelligible gobbledegook when I've found it and c) it's not for my version of Win XP/Outlook/Internet Explorer anyway, etc. etc. It's really just an online version of the equally obscure, thick manuals which used to accompany their software, and which I only ever used as doorstops.

Well, I couldn't even find the Win XP site to begin with, which shows you just what an expert at computing I am. However, in my aimless wanderings around the web, I chanced across this page:-

http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx

which included full step by step instruction written in plain layman's terms, of how to achieve exactly what I was looking for.

I was so surprised I thought it must be too good to be true, but nay .... when I looked further it all looked convincing. So, with a rapidly lightening heart, I took the plunge and followed the directions to the letter.

Result! Now my new installation of Outlook Express 6 has imported all the files from the old installation, allowing me access to years of my previous emails both received and sent, many of which include valuable release codes for software bought on line. In decades of computing involving many upgrades to newer PCs, this is the first time I have been able to salvage the emails from the earlier machine.

Moral of the story: look around and you may find better 'help' for your software than on the manufacturer's own site - certainly Microsoft's!