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All but 5 of the messages in my inbox have disappeared

  • 6 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by christ1

AJSchneider
AJSchneider
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v52.6.0 (32-bit), Windows 7 Pro

I'm using POP mail on my domain's server hosted at HostMySite. I download all mail to TB and delete it from the server.

Last Friday (February 9), all but 5 of the messages in my Inbox disappeared. I had a few thousand messages in there going back a few years (I know, I know, I've learned my lesson). All of my other folders (multiple levels of storage folders for clients, list mail, etc.) look fine.

I remember that there had been a request to compact folders, and I think I did, as I usually do when it pops up.

I was able to open the Inbox folder in Word (19MB, which would seem to tell me that the messages are there), but all I saw was a real estate ad, probably from some spam that I hadn't deleted.

I've tried the following (after saving copies of both my entire TB profile and the Inbox folder to my desktop):

Clicking "Repair folder" in the Properties dialog for the Inbox folder

Closing TB, deleting Inbox.msf, and restarting TB

Closing TB, restoring the Inbox folder from my February 7 backup (that's the earliest date of one of the remaining 5 messages), deleting Inbox.msf again, and restarting TB

Ditto for the February 9 backup (the latest date of one of the remaining 5 messages)

Closing TB, deleting global-messages-db.sqlite, and restarting TBird

Rebooting my computer

Any hope of recovery? I can probably live without the lost messages, but I'd love to get them back if possible to be sure. Thanks much.

v52.6.0 (32-bit), Windows 7 Pro I'm using POP mail on my domain's server hosted at HostMySite. I download all mail to TB and delete it from the server. Last Friday (February 9), all but 5 of the messages in my Inbox disappeared. I had a few thousand messages in there going back a few years (I know, I know, I've learned my lesson). All of my other folders (multiple levels of storage folders for clients, list mail, etc.) look fine. I remember that there had been a request to compact folders, and I think I did, as I usually do when it pops up. I was able to open the Inbox folder in Word (19MB, which would seem to tell me that the messages are there), but all I saw was a real estate ad, probably from some spam that I hadn't deleted. I've tried the following (after saving copies of both my entire TB profile and the Inbox folder to my desktop): ------------------------ Clicking "Repair folder" in the Properties dialog for the Inbox folder Closing TB, deleting Inbox.msf, and restarting TB Closing TB, restoring the Inbox folder from my February 7 backup (that's the earliest date of one of the remaining 5 messages), deleting Inbox.msf again, and restarting TB Ditto for the February 9 backup (the latest date of one of the remaining 5 messages) Closing TB, deleting global-messages-db.sqlite, and restarting TBird Rebooting my computer ---------------------------- Any hope of recovery? I can probably live without the lost messages, but I'd love to get them back if possible to be sure. Thanks much.

All Replies (6)

AJSchneider
AJSchneider Question owner
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Clarification: By "Inbox folder" I meant the Inbox FILE, the one with no extension. My bad.

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Closing TB, restoring the Inbox folder from my February 7 backup (that's the earliest date of one of the remaining 5 messages), deleting Inbox.msf again, and restarting TB

This should do the trick. What happened?

AJSchneider
AJSchneider Question owner
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Nothing happened. I did the steps, reopened TB, and the inbox remained as it was with just the 5 messages.

christ1
christ1
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To were exactly did you restore the Inbox file from the backup? Please provide the exact full path.

AJSchneider
AJSchneider Question owner
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I restored it to the exact same directory as the rest of the mail folders in my default profile. I know it is the correct folder because my mail folder tree is quite extensive and the dates were all current. I also double checked it against the Profile folder location under Help > Troubleshooting Information in TB.

C: > Users > AJS > AppData > Roaming > Thunderbird > Profiles > 6adudmdx.default > Mail > mail.featherschneider.com

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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You can try the following: Create a copy of the backed up Inbox file. Rename the copy to something else than Inbox, e.g. to 'Restored' (without the quotes). Close Thunderbird. Copy the file 'Restored' to your 'Local Folders' account also underneath 'Mail'. Start Thunderbird. There should now be a folder 'Restored' underneath 'Local Folders'.