Need a free backup prog for email. Also, compare Win98 full sys. backup to others.

[Callas]

Getting ready for a clean install. I'm determined to be more prepared for recovery next time. I'm thinking about using Win98 backup app, to do full sys backup. Is it as good as Direct Image or others?
Also... what about saving email files? Are there any good free progs for this, to use with incremental files backups?
If you have a fool-proof procedure to recommend... please do.

[GroundZero3]

well to save email address you can just export all your addresses. as for saving the emails themselves that i still can't figure out. hopefully someone will have a program out there. would be useful for me too!

Jason

[elroy]

In Netscape everything is stored in one folder. Email, addresses, bookmarks, cookies, newsgroups etc.
c:\program files\ netscape\ users\ "your name"
Just save this folder and after re-install put it back. I don't know if IE is the same or not.

[Callas]

I guess I'll just have to find a backup by checking the Freeware sites. I couldn't find one to save mail, so what I've decided to do is just forward the emails I want to save to a web mail account. That way, they'll be there until I need them.
I found several services that will do this for you commercially. They save all your mail offline by backing it up daily.
Forwarding will work for me. I'm going to use Operamail because it has the easiest to use form for replying. I'm also going to look at Bigfoot. They say that's a mail forwarding service, whatever that means. Could be worth a look.
Thanks for the help.

[Dave_H]

Here is a site that has good information on backing up, restoring, and transfering mail between systems. http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe5/index.htm

Here is a cool utility that can be used to back up mail. It will extract copies of all the mail and convert them from .dbx into .eml format. Dragging an .eml back into Outlook Express will covert it back into the .dbx format that OE uses. http://chattanooga.net/~scochran/DBXtract.htm

Hope that helps,
Dave

[Callas]

Looks like I got the help I needed. Outlook Express is the tough one. Yes, Netscape is easy. ... I also use Eudora, which I'm sure has a neat save app.;however, I don't need that at present.
Both of the links from Dave_H, should prove to do the trick for Outlook Express. ... I had prepared to save just the immediate mail by forwarding it to my Operamail account. In case you haven't looked at Opera browser, It's practically all I use anymore.. fast, with great features. The web mail is the best I've used... brings up very nice forms for new mail and replies instead of the usual little boxes that are cramped by banners.
Looks like we can close this thread, and thanks to everyone for their help and concern. ... Callas

[bhess]

What I do is have my outlook folder set up in another harddrive(or partition). Then it's always backed up. I have years of inbox/sent/deleted files. It workes good if you dual boot too. WinME and win2k now use the same folder.
If you want to, how about getting one of those freedrive accounts and backing it up there once in a while.

[rlpos]

you should be able to just drag them to a new folder. The only problem I forsee is if you have multiple emails with the same title or subject (such as RE then put them on a disk. Then after install just load them back on the system and drag them back.

[This message has been edited by rlpos (edited 05-27-2001).]

[Callas]

OK, BHESS... your idea sounds like the way to go. Would you like to give me a step-by-step on how to extract the default file, or are you just setting up a mirror of some kind.

Grabbing the mail & bookmarks on Netscape and Eudora is easy, but if I could do the same thing with Outlook Express, that would be great. One things for sure... I want to set up a regular backup program of important files using Win98 backup, unless I can find something better.

LMK ... Callas

[Dokeman]

to save your emails just creat a folder somewhere, works best on you desktop. label it inbox. make another folder for each emial folder. (drafts, sent items, deleted...) then just highlight all the messages in a particular folder and drag them into the corrasponding folder. Just that easy. then back up the folders you just made. To recover the email, just highlite the the messages in the folder, and drag them into the appropriate folder in the emial proggie

[Callas]

To DOKEMAN ... As the Cowardly Lion would say... Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the truth? By George, it works. ... Easy!

So here's what I did. ... Pulled the Outlook Express window down, so I could see the desktop. Right clicked and created a New Folder ... dragged the selected mail into that folder ... right clicked on the folder and Send To... Floppy A. --- Wow! How easy. Great way to just save mail, even if you're not doing a backup.

The neat thing is you can test it as well. The mail is readable right in the folder. Restoring is just as easy. The messages will drag back.

FYI ... I'm answering your message as I read it in my #2 monitor. I use 2 monitors to process my orders and to bring up tutorials and manuals while I'm using some programs. I can follow your instructions instead of having to print them off.

Thanks to everybody for all the help and concern.