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After HD crash, my replies are in profile's inbox folder but not in the "no extension" file so they don't show up in TB.

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by christ1

thepony
thepony
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After a HD with my Windows 7 o.s. crashed, I reinstalled it, and reinstalled the Thunderbird program. My TB profiles were on a second HD and I had no problem viewing the "pre-crash" emails, except in one account . In that account, the subjects, dates, etc. of my replies to emails that were placed in the same folder as the message I was replying to showed up in the thread pane but were blank. And that problem only existed in the Inbox of one account, not in any sub-folders, or in any other accounts.

I closed TB and deleted the .msf files. After that the blank emails were gone completely from the thread pane.

In looking at the profile, I found that the Inbox folder held all of the emails I was missing. However, they were missing from the file without the extension. I think if they were in that file I would be able to read them once again,

I'm wondering what could selectively delete anything from that file that was a reply from me, without deleting anything else. More importantly, I'm wonder how to get those emails back in that "no extension" file, or fix it in any case.

Many thanks,,

TP

After a HD with my Windows 7 o.s. crashed, I reinstalled it, and reinstalled the Thunderbird program. My TB profiles were on a second HD and I had no problem viewing the "pre-crash" emails, except in one account . In that account, the subjects, dates, etc. of my replies to emails that were placed in the same folder as the message I was replying to showed up in the thread pane but were blank. And that problem only existed in the Inbox of one account, not in any sub-folders, or in any other accounts. I closed TB and deleted the .msf files. After that the blank emails were gone completely from the thread pane. In looking at the profile, I found that the Inbox folder held all of the emails I was missing. However, they were missing from the file without the extension. I think if they were in that file I would be able to read them once again, I'm wondering what could selectively delete anything from that file that was a reply from me, without deleting anything else. More importantly, I'm wonder how to get those emails back in that "no extension" file, or fix it in any case. Many thanks,, TP

All Replies (3)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Mail files can get corrupted and Inbox is most susceptible to corruption compared to other folders. Deleting the corresponding .msf file forces Thunderbird to rebuild the index and cleaning up the corruption. That often means that messages are lost. The most common reason for corruption is anti-virus software trying to write into mail files. It is therefore recommended not to let anti-virus software scan the Thunderbird profile folder. Also keeping the Inbox as clean as possible makes corruption a whole lot less likely.

I'm wonder how to get those emails back in that "no extension" file

You can restore it from a recent backup of your Thunderbird profile folder you hopefully create on a regular basis.

thepony
thepony Question owner
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christ1 said

I'm wondering how to get those emails back in that "no extension" file

You can restore it from a recent backup of your Thunderbird profile folder you hopefully create on a regular basis.

No joy on that, unfortunately. I have a backup but that's where this corrupt file came from.

Is there any other way? I can actually see the "missing" messages (with the .wdseml extension) in the Inbox.mozmsgs folder (using the preview window in my non-Windows file manager replacement).

Thanks for hanging in here with me.

tp

christ1
christ1
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Is there any other way?

I don't think so. Each .wdseml file is a partial copy (up to 20kb) of a message in the mail folder, stored in a .mozmsgs subdirectory. It is used by Windows Search Integration (requires Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8). They're actually renamed .eml files.

For the future make sure you do have a proper backup of your profile directory. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_FAQs_:_Backing_Up_and_Restoring