2GB File Corruption Issues in Outlook Express DBX: Reasons and Tips to avoid it

Outlook Express is the email or news client of Internet explorer. Outlook Express is still in use by some users, all over the world. An individual .DBX file is created for each and every folder of the Outlook Express Mailbox. The name of the folder is the same as the DBX file name. The inbox folder will have a name of Inbox.dbx folder and similarly the outbox folder will be given Outbox.dbx name. The default locations of all these files are in the ‘Documents and Settings’ of the user’s directory and inside the ‘Stores Folder’. The Stores Folder is associated with the master file called Folders.dbx and this actually consists of all other DBX files under it. The DBX files are hypersensitive to even minor problems and the corruption in these files makes the data inaccessible. The user may also face problems, while moving the Outlook Express messages to another computer. A backup becomes absolutely essential, particularly for the Folders.dbx file. The best option for handling Outlook Express corruption is to repair DBX files with the help of commercial software.

Some of the errors encountered are:

• File Already Exists
• Bad file name
• Object Error
• Permission Denied
• Path/ File Error
• Out of Memory
• Disk Full
• File Already Open
• OLEXP: Err Msg

There are lots of reasons for DBX file corruption like the following and which compel you to repair Outlook Express:

• The Size of the DBX file crossing the limit of 2 GB
• Infected by Virus
• Outlook may not be able to start due to lack of proper space on the disk or limited memory
• Outlook Express is unable to start due to the failure of the ‘Msoe.dll’ file

(MSIMN causes an invalid page fault in the module Msoe.dll or MSIMN caused an invalid page fault in module Msoe.dll at address)

• Error Messages are displayed caused by improper installation of Outlook Express
• Compaction procedure is interrupted
• Anti-virus program is incompatible
• The DBX file was unexpectedly closed due to abrupt system shutdown
• Interacting with other professional tools
• Outlook Express not starting due to the fact that the msoe.dll file could not be initialized

The main reason for the corruption of Outlook Express is the limitation of the 2 GB size for the Inbox and the Sent messages. The user gets an error message, while sending/receiving file and apparently it seems that the inbox is empty. The error appears as:

Error Number: 0x800C0155

This will make all the emails in the Express folder as unapproachable.

The most important fact is that Outlook Express lacks any inbuilt repair tool for mending the DBX corruption. The DBX corruption caused by an improper shut down of the system, virus bug and hardware issues cannot be repaired by any sort of manual method.

The only option left for the user is to use a commercial DBX repair tool.

However, before the corruption the DBX can take place we need to take some preventive measures, so that the damage will not occur in the first place.

Some of these preventive measures are:

• The Anti-virus email scanner is to be disabled because it acts as a redundant layer of protection, which  eats up the CPU and the causes such problems with account settings and time-outs
• Not to archive the mails in the Sent items or the Inbox
• The recommended size of the DBX file is 300 MB, for lesser chance of corruption
• Removal of all the unnecessary emails, so the DBX file size will not exceed the 2 GB limit
• It is advisable to keep a limited number of emails
• A backup of the ‘Stores Folder’ need to be kept
• Manual compaction of the folders in the Outlook Express Mailbox must be done on a regular basis, while working offline
• Not to use the computer, when the compaction is proceeding
• The automatic background compaction need to be disabled

These preventive measures will ensure the security of the Outlook Express mailbox and that it is not corrupted.

After taking care of these preventive measures, still the DBX file encounters corruption, and then the only option left is the use of the professional DBX repair software. The Outlook Express repair software will repair the DBX file and the restore Outlook Express from any situation.

The damaged files in Outlook Express will scan intensively, with the help of the advanced scanning algorithms. The time taken by scanning is dependent on the size of the file and the level of corruption. The systematic scan can renovate the damaged DBX files. The Search option will allow the user to save some of the precious time by locating the files in the folder or the volume of the computer system.

The preview of the emails can be shown, with information on the sender, receiver and the subject. The header information and the mail contents are displayed. The recovered mails can be saved as either EML or DBX formats. This DBX file needs to be imported to Outlook Express, for viewing them. The DBX files can be recovered in multiple numbers also. The scanned file is repaired and saved in the user specified location.

These types of software are generally compatible with all other versions of Outlook Express and also with other operating systems. The software will not only recover the emails but also the Unicode characters, images, email properties, attachments and the permanently deleted emails.