hidden .dbx files

Is there anyway to keep and transfer, backup if you wanted to restore
later your .dbx files in the OE folder under identitites with the clsid key?

Newsgroup names for example are represented in that directory/folder by
the newsgroup name .dbx as the file. I thought if I wanted to remove or
backup and reinstall my system I could transfer those files and have my list
of news groups back. I hope I'm clear.

Bill

"Bill Cunningham" wrote in message
...

Is there anyway to keep and transfer, backup if you wanted to restore
later your .dbx files in the OE folder under identitites with the clsid
key?

Newsgroup names for example are represented in that directory/folder by
the newsgroup name .dbx as the file. I thought if I wanted to remove or
backup and reinstall my system I could transfer those files and have my
list of news groups back. I hope I'm clear.

The reference to CLSID is not clear. When I wanted to
copy OE emails etc. to another PC I just copied all
DBX files to a portable hard drive, deleted the unwanted
ones, and wrote them onto the new PC via OE / File / Import.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

"Bill Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Is there anyway to keep and transfer, backup if you wanted to restore
later your .dbx files in the OE folder under identitites with the clsid
key?

Newsgroup names for example are represented in that directory/folder by
the newsgroup name .dbx as the file. I thought if I wanted to remove or
backup and reinstall my system I could transfer those files and have my
list of news groups back. I hope I'm clear.





This freeware tool backs up everything in OE in seconds. Disregard what is
written in red. That is referring to a different program.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx


I honestly don't remember if newsgroup .dbx files are backed up. The
newsgroup account would be for sure.

If you want to backup manually, copy the *entire* OE Store folder and not
individual .dbx files. Folders.dbx must be included or an import will fail.
--

~Bruce

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
"Bill Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Is there anyway to keep and transfer, backup if you wanted to restore
later your .dbx files in the OE folder under identitites with the clsid
key?

Newsgroup names for example are represented in that directory/folder
by the newsgroup name .dbx as the file. I thought if I wanted to remove
or backup and reinstall my system I could transfer those files and have
my list of news groups back. I hope I'm clear.





This freeware tool backs up everything in OE in seconds. Disregard what is
written in red. That is referring to a different program.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx


I honestly don't remember if newsgroup .dbx files are backed up. The
newsgroup account would be for sure.

If you want to backup manually, copy the *entire* OE Store folder and not
individual .dbx files. Folders.dbx must be included or an import will
fail.

I have exported to an .iaf file a newsgroup account. The account was
imported but not the list of newsgroups or the ones I was subscribed to. The
list had to be redownloaded. Then I had to pick and subscribe to every
newsgroup over again.

Bill

"Bill Cunningham" wrote in message
...

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
"Bill Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Is there anyway to keep and transfer, backup if you wanted to restore
later your .dbx files in the OE folder under identitites with the clsid
key?

Newsgroup names for example are represented in that directory/folder
by the newsgroup name .dbx as the file. I thought if I wanted to remove
or backup and reinstall my system I could transfer those files and have
my list of news groups back. I hope I'm clear.





This freeware tool backs up everything in OE in seconds. Disregard what
is written in red. That is referring to a different program.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx


I honestly don't remember if newsgroup .dbx files are backed up. The
newsgroup account would be for sure.

If you want to backup manually, copy the *entire* OE Store folder and not
individual .dbx files. Folders.dbx must be included or an import will
fail.

I have exported to an .iaf file a newsgroup account. The account was
imported but not the list of newsgroups or the ones I was subscribed to.
The list had to be redownloaded. Then I had to pick and subscribe to every
newsgroup over again.




That was what I tried to recall. The account can be saved, but unlike mail,
OE only mirrors what is on the news servers. The posts/threads aren't
"really" on your machine like mail is.
--

~Bruce

I've backed up OE for years. I copy the Outlook Express
folder periodically to my backup partition and write it to
a DVD. In my case I use disk image backup, so if I need
to start fresh I have the same accounts and GUID. If you're
moving to a new machine you have to deal with those
things. You can either set up the new accounts or you
can back up the Registry. In other words, set up
on the new machine so that you can
use the Bill1.dbx backup file, or have a .reg file to do it for
you. Assuming there's only one user set up in OE, back up
the entire HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\ key.

The second part of that -- using your backup on a new
machine -- is to coordinate the GUID. When you set up
the new machine it will create HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\
IDs and a matching GUID-named folder. The GUIDs are not
in the .dbx files, so it's not a big problem. But the parent folder
3 steps up does have a GUID name that needs to match the
Registry. (It sounds like you already know that.) You just need
to name the folder for the new GUID. (Or, if you prefer,
change the Registry values to match the folder.)

So, in other words, you need to make sure your .dbx
folder is found by matching up GUIDs between the parent
GUID folder name and the Registry. And you also need to
have the same accounts set up on the new machine so
that the .dbx files will be usable. I think that backing up
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\ is the easiest way to
take care of all that. I back it up myself. But I'm not
sure that I've ever actually had to use that backup, as
I've been using the same disk image for years.

The newsgroups are not so important, at least for
most people. One generally doesn't want to risk losing
old email, but newsgroups can be subscribed to anew.
The discussion changes frequently, anyway. In fact,
I delete those DBX files periodically to save space. When
a newsgroup DBX gets to be a few MB I delete it and
then reload the group, which creates a new DBX holding
the 300 most recent posts.

| That was what I tried to recall. The account can be saved, but unlike
mail,
| OE only mirrors what is on the news servers. The posts/threads aren't
| "really" on your machine like mail is.

They are saved locally. I don't know why you
might think otherwise. I have DBX files for all newsgroups
I'm subscribed to and they contain posts back to
when they were created. To demonstrate you can
look at your DBX files and find
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general.dbx.
If you then delete that file while OE stays open but is
not open to this group, then go to this group, you'll
find that the posts are all loaded fresh and a new
DBX is created.

I don't know about IAF files, though. I always back
up Registry and DBX files manually. I wouldn't want
to trust any sort of import/export functions. In both
email and browsers those are notoriously undependable.

"Mayayana" wrote in message
...
I've backed up OE for years. I copy the Outlook Express
folder periodically to my backup partition and write it to
a DVD. In my case I use disk image backup, so if I need
to start fresh I have the same accounts and GUID. If you're
moving to a new machine you have to deal with those
things. You can either set up the new accounts or you
can back up the Registry. In other words, set up
on the new machine so that you can
use the Bill1.dbx backup file, or have a .reg file to do it for
you. Assuming there's only one user set up in OE, back up
the entire HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\ key.

The second part of that -- using your backup on a new
machine -- is to coordinate the GUID. When you set up
the new machine it will create HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\
IDs and a matching GUID-named folder. The GUIDs are not
in the .dbx files, so it's not a big problem. But the parent folder
3 steps up does have a GUID name that needs to match the
Registry. (It sounds like you already know that.) You just need
to name the folder for the new GUID. (Or, if you prefer,
change the Registry values to match the folder.)

So, in other words, you need to make sure your .dbx
folder is found by matching up GUIDs between the parent
GUID folder name and the Registry. And you also need to
have the same accounts set up on the new machine so
that the .dbx files will be usable. I think that backing up
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\ is the easiest way to
take care of all that. I back it up myself. But I'm not
sure that I've ever actually had to use that backup, as
I've been using the same disk image for years.

The newsgroups are not so important, at least for
most people. One generally doesn't want to risk losing
old email, but newsgroups can be subscribed to anew.
The discussion changes frequently, anyway. In fact,
I delete those DBX files periodically to save space. When
a newsgroup DBX gets to be a few MB I delete it and
then reload the group, which creates a new DBX holding
the 300 most recent posts.

It seems like I ran find in the regedit and found the clsid the GUID for
the folder that has the OE folder in a couple of different places. But is
the current user hive key the only important one? Should one gcreate a .reg
file with that hive key that contains a reference to the .dbx files? So
basically then, everytime you load you news server's list of usenet groups
you will have to subscribe to each group. You can't save a list of
subscribed groups?

Bill

"Mayayana" wrote in message
...

| That was what I tried to recall. The account can be saved, but unlike
mail,
| OE only mirrors what is on the news servers. The posts/threads aren't
| "really" on your machine like mail is.

They are saved locally. I don't know why you
might think otherwise. I have DBX files for all newsgroups
I'm subscribed to and they contain posts back to
when they were created. To demonstrate you can
look at your DBX files and find
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general.dbx.
If you then delete that file while OE stays open but is
not open to this group, then go to this group, you'll
find that the posts are all loaded fresh and a new
DBX is created.

I don't know about IAF files, though. I always back
up Registry and DBX files manually. I wouldn't want
to trust any sort of import/export functions. In both
email and browsers those are notoriously undependable.




Deleting a DBX file while OE is open shouldn't accomplish anything. For
instance, if you have a corrupt Inbox, if you delete the Inbox.dbx file with
OE closed, a new and fresh Inbox is created when you open OE. If you do it
with OE open, you have not created a new Inbox, you still have the old one.

Drag an OE store folder to a flash drive and copy it to the desktop of
another XP machine. Open OE and import from an OE store directory. You will
end up with all your mail folders and messages, but you're not going to see
newsgroup posts/threads. Or do you?

IAF files are simply the account files. Adds the account back with all its
settings.

I've been without OE for a number of years, so.......................
--

~Bruce

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

IAF files are simply the account files. Adds the account back with all its
settings.

I've been without OE for a number of years, so.......................

Well I can tell you it does add back your news server's OE settings but
not a list of subscribed groups.

Bill

| It seems like I ran find in the regedit and found the clsid the GUID
for
| the folder that has the OE folder in a couple of different places.

Yes, but those places are all within HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\

| Should one gcreate a .reg
| file with that hive key that contains a reference to the .dbx files?

It doesn't seem to work that way. The Registry stores your
accounts info, OE settings, etc for a particular GUID. The DBX
files in the folder under that GUID folder provide the rest. So
you need to back up the Identities key and you need to back up
the DBX folder. Then on the new machine you need to merge the
REG file and make sure your Registry settings GUID match the
DBX parent folder GUID.

| So
| basically then, everytime you load you news server's list of usenet groups
| you will have to subscribe to each group. You can't save a list of
| subscribed groups?
|

I don't get what you're after. If you want to make a list
of the groups you're subscribed to there's nothing stopping
you. If you want to back up all groups and accounts then
you need to do as described above. The Registry will have
an entry for your usenet account, but the names of newsgroups
are not there. Presumably that's part of what's in folders.dbx.
I don't know exactly how it's stored. What I do know is that
if I back up my DBX files I can open OE with no lost data,
settings, mail, or newsgroup posts on a new disk image by
swapping in the backup DBX folder. (And as noted, you'll also
need to merge your Registry backup and synchrmoize the GUIDs
if you're restoring to a new machine rather than a
matching disk image.)

It's a bit confusing to describe, but it's actually not
very complicated. If you look in the Identities key
I think you'll see what I'm talking about.

"Bill Cunningham" wrote in message
...

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

IAF files are simply the account files. Adds the account back with all
its settings.

I've been without OE for a number of years, so.......................

Well I can tell you it does add back your news server's OE settings but
not a list of subscribed groups.




That's what I thought.
--

~Bruce

| Deleting a DBX file while OE is open shouldn't accomplish anything. For
| instance, if you have a corrupt Inbox, if you delete the Inbox.dbx file
with
| OE closed, a new and fresh Inbox is created when you open OE. If you do it
| with OE open, you have not created a new Inbox, you still have the old
one.
|

It's as I described. Deleting microsoft.public.windowsxp.general.dbx
will cause a new one to be created. The old one had a record of all
posts. The new one is empty. Thus all downloaded posts are stored
in the DBX.

| Drag an OE store folder to a flash drive and copy it to the desktop of
| another XP machine. Open OE and import from an OE store directory. You
will
| end up with all your mail folders and messages, but you're not going to
see
| newsgroup posts/threads. Or do you?
|

I don't know. As I said, I don't
trust import/export functions so I don't know what that
does. I'm not talking about import/export. Playing with importing
DBX and IAF files is asking for trouble because OE has a
very badly designed and convoluted system of storage.

I'm talking about actually backing up all settings, news
posts, email and accounts for OE, so that if one moves
to a new computer or restores a disk image, OE can be
retrieved exactly as it was on the old machine.

| Well I can tell you it does add back your news server's OE settings but
| not a list of subscribed groups.
|

That's as I described in my last post. The groups
are known to OE through the DBX files, not through
the Registry settings that represent the account.
If I were you I'd forget OE's half-assed backup or
import/export and actually back up the data and
Registry key themselves.

"Mayayana" wrote in message
...
| Deleting a DBX file while OE is open shouldn't accomplish anything. For
| instance, if you have a corrupt Inbox, if you delete the Inbox.dbx file
with
| OE closed, a new and fresh Inbox is created when you open OE. If you do
it
| with OE open, you have not created a new Inbox, you still have the old
one.
|

It's as I described. Deleting microsoft.public.windowsxp.general.dbx
will cause a new one to be created. The old one had a record of all
posts. The new one is empty. Thus all downloaded posts are stored
in the DBX.

| Drag an OE store folder to a flash drive and copy it to the desktop of
| another XP machine. Open OE and import from an OE store directory. You
will
| end up with all your mail folders and messages, but you're not going to
see
| newsgroup posts/threads. Or do you?
|

I don't know. As I said, I don't
trust import/export functions so I don't know what that
does. I'm not talking about import/export. Playing with importing
DBX and IAF files is asking for trouble because OE has a
very badly designed and convoluted system of storage.

I'm talking about actually backing up all settings, news
posts, email and accounts for OE, so that if one moves
to a new computer or restores a disk image, OE can be
retrieved exactly as it was on the old machine.



Tom Koch, (Inside Outlook Express), has a "Clone" procedure. That is
probably what you are doing in your own way. Most of his site is gone now so
I can't say for sure.