Can't recover e-mails and contacts from backups!

I need help recovering my e-mails and contacts from a backup folder, following a recent Windows 7 crash and system restore. They were saved in a folder named “backup_2013060948,” which contains a list of “DAT” files. The eM Client import tool apparently doesn’t recognize them. How do I get them back?

Thanks.

Dave

Hello,

you need to use backup in File - restore…, not by moving files from backup itself.

best regards
Jan

Thanks, John. I ran “restore,” but it only produced e-mails I had already retrieved from my IMAP e-mail service; it did not recover my contacts, nor the many “local” folders full of old e-mails that I’ve retained over the years. Are there ways to (1) view the DAT files to see for sure what’s in them and/or (2) convert them to .eml and .vcf files so they can be imported?

Thanks.

Dave

Also, out of curiosity, when we run “Backup,” where does eM Client put the backup files?

Dave

Hello,

No, you can’t convert anything from backup. It is only that one file that is supposed to be imported.

If you still have it then please delete your database and make fresh Restore from it as you could by trying to copy/paste files from it damaged your current eM Client database.
Also had you any contacts before? eM Client copy absolutely everything that is in database into that file.

Backup location can be found and changed in Tools - Settings - General - Backup

best regards
Jan

Jan,

OK, now we are making progress, now that you’ve told me where the file is. I think the problem is this:

Before I ran “Restore” yesterday, it flashed a message that I might lose my current e-mails. So, to be safe, I ran “Backup” to preserve those files, and then ran “Restore,” thinking it would find my larger backup file, which is located in a folder on my desktop. Instead, Restore simply restored the files I had just backed up! It’s location is C:\Users\Dave\Documents\eM Client, and it’s name is “backup_20139111334,” created on 9/11/2013; it’s file type is “Compressed (zipped) Folder,” 502 KB.

The backup file I want to restore is “backup_201306030948,” created on 9/7/2013 (by the technician who did a system recovery for me after my Windows 7 crashed). It’s file type is also “Compressed (zipped) Folder,” 343,295 KB.

So, do you think we could solve my biggest problem if I simply replace the smaller backup file with the larger one in the registry, and then re-run eM Client “Restore?”

Beyond that, tell me if I understand your file naming system correctly: does backup_201306030948 mean that backup was actually created on June 30, 2013? If so, any e-mails or contacts added between then and September 11 would only appear on the smaller backup.

Is there a way to restore both sets of backups?

Thanks.

Dave

Hello,

No, there is no possibility of restoring both (or more than one generaly backups at once).

Because Restore… always selects newest backup by default (which is logical behaviour) you can try to rename your newest one and then try to restore again.

And yes you have udnerstood right backup_201306030948 is 3rd June 2013, 9:48 am.

regards
Jan

Jan,

Thank you. Can you answer the second part of my question, regarding what we can expect to happen if we substitute an older file for the newer one. If I understand you correctly, the procedure you are suggesting would be as follows:

  1. Remove the newer default backup file from its location.

  2. In that same location, paste a copy of the older backup file, renamed to the same name as the newer one that we just removed.

  3. Run Restore.

But then, the remaining questions:

  1. Does that erase the files that are already active in EM Client, or add to them?

  2. If there are items that appear in both an active folder and the backup folder, will Restore overwrite the active copy with the backup copy, or will I end up with two copies of the same item?

And, a new question, if Restore, as its currently designed, is only capable of restoring the newest backup, why do the Backup settings allow the preservation of the last 5 backups? What’s the point, if the first 4 can’t be restored?

Thanks.

Dave

I will try to answer your questions instead of my colleague:

  1. Yes, this erase all your current settings and data in eM Client

  2. It will not overwrite the current data, it simply loads the backup copy of eM Client’s database.

  3. If you have multiple backups, you can choose which will be used for restoring so basically, you can choose from 5 different restore points (in this case).

Thanks, George, for responding. But please clarify, if I can choose one and only one of multiple existing backups, how do I get Restore to select the correct backup file? The one I need (with all my contacts and local folders) is currently located in a folder on my desktop, not in the “Target Directory” indicated in Settings\General\Backup. I would like to run Restore on it, instead of the most recent backup. How can I do that?

Also, once we do that, should it return all my original local folders and nested folders in their original order?

Thanks.

Dave

If you have it located somewhere elsewhere you will have to copy it to the default backup location and then run Restore function. You will be asked which backup you want to restore.

The folders structure stays preserved.

George,

That worked! I ran Restore on the older file and it returned all my old contacts and e-mails, local folders intact. And amazingly, contrary to what both you and Jan Galis told me to expect, it did not erase my current files! Try it.

My immediate problem is solved, and I thank both of you for your help.

For future reference, I hope you’ll rethink that confusing warning that pops up in Restore. And I’d think you guys could save yourselves a lot of time going forward if you take time now to add a good, clear, detailed and accurate description of the Restore feature to the “Help” files.

Regards,

Dave

Great, I am happy you have your data back. Isn’t possible that you had the current files in the Backup too? It would explain what happened when you restored the files.
As regards the detailed instructions - we will certainly add it to our Help file soon.

Nope. The folder was backup_201306030948, as 6/3/13 was the last time your automatic backup ran before I turned it off. I did that because, at the time, I didn’t know what your program was doing or where the backup was going, or how to find and recover whatever you were saving, and your “Help” files were no help on that point. Foolishly, I never got around to doing any further homework or contacting you with my questions before my Window 7 crashed on September 3. This was the only eM Client backup that survived, in My Documents\eM Client Backup, and got re-loaded after a system restore.

I just checked it in the registry, and there’s no sign of any modification since June 3.

What I referred to as my “current” files are only e-mails that re-loaded from my IMAP e-mail service after the crash, plus what’s come and gone since then. There were no contacts in that material, as I have never put them on my email service’s server. I did run Backup on those current files on Saturday, 9/22, before I ran Restore on the June file, but that backup was saved as a separate file, as it should be. Also, before I ran that restore, I unchecked the two “Sychronization” boxes in Settings\General, thinking that would prevent that stuff from reloading through the IMAP connection before I had a chance to see what I got from the June file.

Anyway, the only things I lost were a few changes to my contacts that I had made between 6\3 and 9/3.

Hope this helps.

Dave