All accounts disappeared

Crashing eM Client
1

I have a serious problem, suddenly when opening eM Client, I found all my accounts disappeared !!! All maps (mail, calendar etc.) were empty!!!

I have tried to uninstall eM Client and keeping data bases (C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client),
and the install latest version - 8.2.1175 (184229a). The data base location is not changed when opening the new version - but there’s still no accounts or no data! The license is still active.

Is there another way of recreating accounts and data - from what I have on the computer?
I have no backup from inside eM Client, never noticed it was available.

Best regards
OleMalm

2

Hi OleMail,
can you please provide more details on what happened before the accounts disappeared?
The update itself cannot remove database files, so have you perhaps recently changed the Storage location in Menu>Settings>General>Storage?
Was it at any point anything else than the default C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client?
Did you change any of your disks or user account in your device?
Did you run any scans or repairs or restored your system to an earlier point?

Thank you for your cooperation.

3

Hi Olivia … and thanks for your reply.
I did not change anything at all. The storage location has never changed (3 years now with eM Client).

About the time when accounts disappeared I remember that there was a Windows Update running that would not work. It was KB5000802 error 0x800F080a. Looks like it belongs to the new “20H2” which is not installed (is optional at the moment). I have delayed further updates from windows…

Best regards
OleMalm

4

Windows updates often move the user profile, so that could account for your eM Client database being missing.

Have a look on your computer and see if there is a C:\Windows.old folder.

If there is, with eM Client closed, copy the contents of the C:\Windows.old\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ folder to C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ then restart eM Client.

5

Thanks for reply,

I have no C:\Windows.old folder … but I make a daily local backup from C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ to a folder on an external harddisk.

This ext. disk folder is with much more files than the one on C: …
The backup is designed to update folders/data that IS on both sides and changed; data on backup side is not deleted/changed if not present on C: …

I could copy contents from the ext. backup side to C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ …
Should I delete the content on C: … first?

Best regards
OleMalm

6

Yes, that is an idea.

Maybe just rename C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ to something else until you confirm the restore from your external backup works .

7

OK, so I renamed original C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ …
Created an empty one - and copied content from the ext. backup - all was there.

After opening eM Client started “…repairing etc. - was not closed correctly!”
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and most of the copied files (from backup) was removed - this is from backup folder:

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image603×669 158 KB

and after opening the client - was this result in C:…:
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Hope the pictures are OK.

Best regards
OleMalm

8

FYI - Tried to make a backup INSIDE eM Client as it is now - and ended with this:
image

9

This is probably because the backup is not complete.

If eM Client is running while an external application is making the backup, there may not be any data in the backup.

10

It was not an external backup … but a backup made from INSIDE eM Client.
Had it set up in eM Clients’s Settings to test it - was not used earlier :sunglasses:

11

Sorry, I was referring to this, not the backup you just made:

12

OK, when the external backup (daily) is running there’s always no other jobs active.
It is backing up various application data. The ext. backup part of eM Client I tried to copy … is now deactivated so that I have this for eventuell later recreation (as said it has more data than the “normal” version in C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client…
Could it be a solution to upgrade to the Pro version - and will it for this be an one-time payment, also for coming updates?

13

FYI - Just tried to open eM Client (without doing anything else …) - and it stoppet with this message:
image

Best regards
OleMalm

14

From backup (outside eM Client) it looks like it is at least this file ‘mail.data.dat’ with a problem. There’s an error message that this file could not be copied: C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\2cb4f8c3-be61-4a98-8e9a-b1136cf55b4a\mail_data.dat (“Cannot copy file (87): Wrong parameter…”).

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image512×557 22.8 KB

Can this help? Hope for a solution, so I can work with eM Client again … need all the missing data from the last 3 years :tired_face:

Best regards
OleMalm

15

Backups made using third-party applications do not reliably save the eM Client database. That is especially true when eM Client is running, and the backup will just be empty useless files. Incremental backups are also of no use as the individual eM Client database files are not interchangeable. It needs to be a full snapshot of the database directory at that specific time, with eM Client closed. If you just keep adding changed files to a backup, that copy of the database will be broken.

So, with eM Client closed, restore the C:\Users\ole\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\ directory from your backup, then restart eM Client. If that does not work, and you get some error reading the files, then the backup is useless and unless you have a backup made using eM Client’s own backup feature, you may have lost all of your data.

If you have a Pro License, please open a support ticket directly with eM Client. They may be able to assist you by email, or if necessary, by remote access to you computer. You still have the original database directory which you renamed, so maybe that could be of use to Support.