Seek help for email recovery in msf/sdb/sqlite files
Hello, I beleived that I used Thunderbird or its add-on to backup my emails on the hard drive in 2016.
In my backup files, I have a folder with my email name, such as xxx@xxx.com, with a xxx@xxx.com.msf file
Within the folder "xxx@xxx.com", there are several subfolders. for example, one fold name is ABC
Therefore, I have three files for this folder:
ABC.sbd (a folder) ABC (a file without extension, the file content is "This file is a placeholder for a folder.") ABC.msf
Also, I am looking for files with large size. I found the inbox.msf with 3 MB, and ews-bodies.sqlite (36 MB) and ews-db.sqlite (32MB). All others are small files
I tried to install Thunderbird version 45 (in the year of 2016) and Thunderbird version 91 (latest), and use the ImportExportTools, however, no previous emails can get back to me.
If I view the index.msf file by textpad, I am able to find some important email titles, but not able to recover it.
I also tried different softwares oline. No lucks. I guess something changed. I did not find any files with .mbox extension. I am able to view .sqlite files, but the content info are with encryption
Any solutions to recover these emails?
All Replies (7)
The mbox files, where your messages are stored, are those ones without an extension. The ABC one, for example, is where messages in the ABC folder (in Thunderbird's folder pane) are physically stored. Subfolders under the ABC folder in Thunderbird, will have their respective mbox files inside the ABC.sbd subfolder.
Stans said
The mbox files, where your messages are stored, are those ones without an extension. The ABC one, for example, is where messages in the ABC folder (in Thunderbird's folder pane) are physically stored. Subfolders under the ABC folder in Thunderbird, will have their respective mbox files inside the ABC.sbd subfolder.
Thanks. Unfortunately, there are no .mbox files in any folders with sbd. No idea what happened. Probably deleted by anti-virus software? since I can see some McAfee Anti-Spam.sbd
Like I said, the mbox files are the ones without an extension. They DON'T have an extension. That
ABC (a file without extension, the file content is "This file is a placeholder for a folder.")is an mbox file. It is of the mbox format, but the file itself has no extension. That is how Thunderbird uses the mbox files. I don't know why the .mbox extension isn't used for the mbox files, but that's how it has been for as long as memory serves me.
still no luck. All of these files without extension is just with 1 KB. Open the file, I can see "This file is a placeholder for a folder."
In the Inbox.sbd folder, there are McAfee anti-virus spam folder.sbd, I guess the folder was changed by McAfee before, cannot restore it anymore
1KB is too small even for a single message. They should be the largest files in there, so this means your backup is no good.
Stans said
1KB is too small even for a single message. They should be the largest files in there, so this means your backup is no good.
how about sqlite files, they are large
socialbuck said
how about sqlite files, they are large
Those aren't used for storing messages. They won't help you in recovering messages.