Restore computer without deleting emails.

[[TC]►Leon◄]

Hey guys.

My dad has a Dell Latitude E6400 laptop that he uses for work at home and it is slow beyond belief. Absolutely everything takes ages to load up and more often than not, it freezes during Windows startup. Being the technical genius that I am (This is sarcasm for those that hadn´t noticed) I´m going to a system restore. I should be able to figure that out since I´ve done it on my own laptops a few times in the past. I´ve managed to pull most of the files out of his computer and the issue at hand is all of his e-mails. They can and must not be deleted. How do I pull these emails off the computer so that they can be put back in place afterwards or back them up? He uses Outlook on Windows XP.

P.S: My dad works for himself, so there´s no tech support.

TL: DR: WinXP computer needs a restore. How do I backup the email?

[Tommer]

Microsoft (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windo...-questions) Wrote:System Restore affects Windows system files, programs, and registry settings. It can also make changes to scripts, batch files, and other types of executable files on your computer.
Note


System Restore does not affect personal files, such as e-mail, documents, or photos, so it cannot help you restore a deleted file. If you have backups of your files, you can restore the files from a backup.

However, if you don't trust M$, the instructions for finding the location of where your emails are stored on your machine once downloaded are here;

http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt...d_Data.htm

Those instructions are confirmed working from 2000-2007 idk about later versions of Outlook but it's probably the same or similar.

It seems strange that he's asking to keep his emails safe. Surely even if he did lose them after a restore they would still be on the mail server and thus could be downloaded again?

Ahwell. Hope it helps.

[[TC]►Leon◄]

And as usual, I`m an idiot. Sorry for that. What I mean is a factory reset of the computer.

[Kayla]

got a second HDD ready? or an online-webspace? FTP-Server? similar?

(2013-02-13 18:06)Tommer Wrote:  It seems strange that he's asking to keep his emails safe. Surely even if he did lose them after a restore they would still be on the mail server and thus could be downloaded again?

Ahwell. Hope it helps.

If he has a freemail account -> he has limited space. If he hasn't, he probably still has limited space. So E-Mails get deleted from the Server after some days.

e.g. I got ~13,500 E-Mails on my computer, if I would have them on the mail server my provider would tell me to get rid of 'em, else I won't receive anything anymore.

[[TC]►Leon◄]

I have an external harddrive at my disposal, yes. What the other things mean I have no idea. How does the rest help me?

[Kayla]

does the win-xp computer still run? if yes -> search for files -> *.dbx -> copy all the files from the folders where it found them.
Else -> there must be an export-option somewhere in outlook
else ->

Quote:Outlook stores all your data (email messages, contacts, your calendars, and more) in ominous "Personal Folder" (.pst) files. They are proprietary and complicated, and it's a good idea to back them up now and then. First you need to find the location where Outlook keeps your .pst files, however.
Find Out Where Outlook Stores Your Mail, Calendar and Other Data

To identify the folder where Outlook 2003 and later store your email messages and other data:

›› Step by Step Screenshot Walkthrough

Select File | Data File Management... from the menu in Outlook.
Highlight your main data file (typically named Personal Folders).
Click Open Folder....

To identify the folder where Outlook 2002 and earlier store your data:

Click with the right mouse button on Outlook Today either in the Outlook bar or in the folder list.
Select Properties from the pop-up menu.
Select Advanced....
Notice the path listed under Path:.
Select the path excluding the file name (usually this will be "outlook.pst") with your mouse.
Press Ctrl-C to copy the path.
If, for example, the path listed under Path: is "C­Documents and Settings\­email.guide\­Application Data\­Microsoft\­Outlook\­outlook.pst", you'd select and copy "C­Documents and Settings\­email.guide\­Application Data\­Microsoft\­Outlook\".
Now select Run... from the Start menu.
Press Ctrl-V to paste the path
Hit Enter to open your Outlook data folder in Windows Explorer.

http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt...d_Data.htm
http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/ss...l_data.htm

[[TC]►Leon◄]

Awesome. Thanks!

[Kayla]

Oh and I asked for the 2nd HDD / online-webspace / FTP-Server / similar because you need some space where you save the backed up e-mails to

[[TC]»Elmo«]

To be safe, making a full backup of the Documents and Settings folder would probably be a good idea.