My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one that has
Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from the old computer. I
have been able to save and transfer all my working files but I am not able to
find where do my old e-mails are in the old HD, if I can get the location I
will be able to transfer them to my new PC.

Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old e-mails.

Regards

Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Craig

Craig
Mon Apr 21 20:00:10 PDT 2008



"Marcelo" <Marcelo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1497EE42-202E-4B39-9CC6-2034928AD643@microsoft.com...
> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one that has
> Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from the old computer.
> I
> have been able to save and transfer all my working files but I am not able
> to
> find where do my old e-mails are in the old HD, if I can get the location
> I
> will be able to transfer them to my new PC.
>
> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old e-mails.
>
> Regards


This would depend on the email client that you used...

Craig


Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by philo

philo
Mon Apr 21 23:31:02 PDT 2008


"Craig Hutchinson" <usenet@hutchbox.com> wrote in message
news:8YGdnRjGWvQnyZDVnZ2dnUVZ_qCunZ2d@giganews.com...
>
>
> "Marcelo" <Marcelo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1497EE42-202E-4B39-9CC6-2034928AD643@microsoft.com...
> > My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one that
has
> > Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from the old
computer.
> > I
> > have been able to save and transfer all my working files but I am not
able
> > to
> > find where do my old e-mails are in the old HD, if I can get the
location
> > I
> > will be able to transfer them to my new PC.
> >
> > Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old e-mails.
> >
> > Regards
>
>
> This would depend on the email client that you used...
>
> Craig
>


But if Outlook Express was used, just search for the .dbx extention

such as inbox.dbx

to extract the old mail you'd have to rename the file so as not to conflict
with any existing inbox.dbx file...
but you'll need to get your advice from someone more familiar with Vista
than I am
as I do not know if Windows Mail functions the same way as OE ( I'd can only
guess that it would)



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Gerry

Gerry
Tue Apr 22 06:42:29 PDT 2008

Marcelo

You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Marcelo wrote:
> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one
> that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from the
> old computer. I have been able to save and transfer all my working
> files but I am not able to find where do my old e-mails are in the
> old HD, if I can get the location I will be able to transfer them to
> my new PC.
>
> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
> e-mails.
>
> Regards



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by DL

DL
Tue Apr 22 15:11:45 PDT 2008

Since the old drive was not Vista, its nothing much to do with Vista untill
it comes to connecting old mail files to Windows Mail


"Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Ol42H7HpIHA.1768@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Marcelo
>
> You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail
>
> --
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Gerry
> ~~~~
> FCA
> Stourport, England
> Enquire, plan and execute
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> Marcelo wrote:
>> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one
>> that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from the
>> old computer. I have been able to save and transfer all my working
>> files but I am not able to find where do my old e-mails are in the
>> old HD, if I can get the location I will be able to transfer them to
>> my new PC.
>>
>> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
>> e-mails.
>>
>> Regards
>
>



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Gerry

Gerry
Wed Apr 23 01:40:20 PDT 2008

DL

I think you are mistaken.

Windows Mail is Outlook Express with some features changed. Marcello
will need to import the Outlook Express messages into Windows Mail. From
what I remember the import feature in Windows Mail is similar to OE.
Marcello's problem is that he cannot see the OE dbx files. In Windows XP
dbx files are hidden by default and you need to enable Show Hidden Files
to see them. There will be a similar procedure in Vista. Marcello has
not explained how he has transferred other data files but it can be done
either, by putting the XP disk in the Vista computer as a slave or, if
the Vista computer can only take one drive then an external closure
could be used. There would be other ways to transfer the files if you
had access to a Windows XP computer but we do not know that Marcello has
easy access to one.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




DL wrote:
> Since the old drive was not Vista, its nothing much to do with Vista
> untill it comes to connecting old mail files to Windows Mail
>
>
> "Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:Ol42H7HpIHA.1768@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Marcelo
>>
>> You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
>> microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> Gerry
>> ~~~~
>> FCA
>> Stourport, England
>> Enquire, plan and execute
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>>
>> Marcelo wrote:
>>> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one
>>> that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from
>>> the old computer. I have been able to save and transfer all my
>>> working files but I am not able to find where do my old e-mails are
>>> in the old HD, if I can get the location I will be able to transfer
>>> them to my new PC.
>>>
>>> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
>>> e-mails.
>>>
>>> Regards



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Marcelo

Marcelo
Wed Apr 23 20:25:01 PDT 2008

Thanks to all for your help, I suspected that files might be hidden after
browsing hundreds of files in my old HD (fitted to an external case as an
external USB HD) but thought (not mistakenly) that here I would get the right
help-

I have thought of another way of doing it (finding the missing e-mail files)
just make a back-up of this external file into another disk (or partition
really this external HD is parttioned into 2 parts 60GB each) with the Vista
back-up feature and then restoring it to the C: HD in the new PC, can this
merge all the e-mail files into one file accessed by the Windows Mail program?

Thanks again

Marcelo

"Gerry" wrote:

> DL
>
> I think you are mistaken.
>
> Windows Mail is Outlook Express with some features changed. Marcello
> will need to import the Outlook Express messages into Windows Mail. From
> what I remember the import feature in Windows Mail is similar to OE.
> Marcello's problem is that he cannot see the OE dbx files. In Windows XP
> dbx files are hidden by default and you need to enable Show Hidden Files
> to see them. There will be a similar procedure in Vista. Marcello has
> not explained how he has transferred other data files but it can be done
> either, by putting the XP disk in the Vista computer as a slave or, if
> the Vista computer can only take one drive then an external closure
> could be used. There would be other ways to transfer the files if you
> had access to a Windows XP computer but we do not know that Marcello has
> easy access to one.
>
> --
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Gerry
> ~~~~
> FCA
> Stourport, England
> Enquire, plan and execute
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
> DL wrote:
> > Since the old drive was not Vista, its nothing much to do with Vista
> > untill it comes to connecting old mail files to Windows Mail
> >
> >
> > "Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
> > news:Ol42H7HpIHA.1768@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> >> Marcelo
> >>
> >> You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
> >> microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Hope this helps.
> >>
> >> Gerry
> >> ~~~~
> >> FCA
> >> Stourport, England
> >> Enquire, plan and execute
> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >>
> >>
> >> Marcelo wrote:
> >>> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one
> >>> that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from
> >>> the old computer. I have been able to save and transfer all my
> >>> working files but I am not able to find where do my old e-mails are
> >>> in the old HD, if I can get the location I will be able to transfer
> >>> them to my new PC.
> >>>
> >>> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
> >>> e-mails.
> >>>
> >>> Regards
>
>
>

Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Gerry

Gerry
Wed Apr 23 22:49:37 PDT 2008

Marcelo

This should be answered by someone who uses Vista.

SFAIK you will need to import the messages into Windows Mail. File,
Import, Messages, follow instructions and then use the browse to go the
Store Folder. You can only import mail folders. You cannot import news
folders. Do not separate the files from the store folder. The procedure
will be similar to Outlook Express, except you will need to locate the
Store folder without having Outlook Express to point the way.

To restore your mail folders, open OE and click File| Import| Messages|
OE5 (or OE6 if OE5 is not listed)| Message store directory, then browse
to the folder containing your old messages. Do not copy the backup files
into the current OE message store or the import will fail. If you saved
your backup on a CD or a networked drive, you will need to copy the
backup to your hard disk and verify that none of the *.dbx files are
marked as "read only", or the import will fail. Source:
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/simple.htm


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marcelo wrote:
> Thanks to all for your help, I suspected that files might be hidden
> after browsing hundreds of files in my old HD (fitted to an external
> case as an external USB HD) but thought (not mistakenly) that here I
> would get the right help-
>
> I have thought of another way of doing it (finding the missing e-mail
> files) just make a back-up of this external file into another disk
> (or partition really this external HD is parttioned into 2 parts 60GB
> each) with the Vista back-up feature and then restoring it to the C:
> HD in the new PC, can this merge all the e-mail files into one file
> accessed by the Windows Mail program?
>
> Thanks again
>
> Marcelo
>
> "Gerry" wrote:
>
>> DL
>>
>> I think you are mistaken.
>>
>> Windows Mail is Outlook Express with some features changed. Marcello
>> will need to import the Outlook Express messages into Windows Mail.
>> From what I remember the import feature in Windows Mail is similar
>> to OE. Marcello's problem is that he cannot see the OE dbx files. In
>> Windows XP dbx files are hidden by default and you need to enable
>> Show Hidden Files to see them. There will be a similar procedure in
>> Vista. Marcello has not explained how he has transferred other data
>> files but it can be done either, by putting the XP disk in the Vista
>> computer as a slave or, if the Vista computer can only take one
>> drive then an external closure could be used. There would be other
>> ways to transfer the files if you had access to a Windows XP
>> computer but we do not know that Marcello has easy access to one.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> Gerry
>> ~~~~
>> FCA
>> Stourport, England
>> Enquire, plan and execute
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> DL wrote:
>>> Since the old drive was not Vista, its nothing much to do with Vista
>>> untill it comes to connecting old mail files to Windows Mail
>>>
>>>
>>> "Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>> news:Ol42H7HpIHA.1768@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>> Marcelo
>>>>
>>>> You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
>>>> microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hope this helps.
>>>>
>>>> Gerry
>>>> ~~~~
>>>> FCA
>>>> Stourport, England
>>>> Enquire, plan and execute
>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Marcelo wrote:
>>>>> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one
>>>>> that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from
>>>>> the old computer. I have been able to save and transfer all my
>>>>> working files but I am not able to find where do my old e-mails
>>>>> are in the old HD, if I can get the location I will be able to
>>>>> transfer them to my new PC.
>>>>>
>>>>> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
>>>>> e-mails.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Olórin

Olórin
Thu Apr 24 02:41:11 PDT 2008

"Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:%23%23m%23K8cpIHA.4280@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Marcelo
>
> This should be answered by someone who uses Vista.

** Only regarding the importing into Windows Mail, as DL pointed out. The
original question was, "Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location
of the old e-mails," and the old e-mails are on an XP installation.

<snip>
> To restore your mail folders, open OE and click File| Import| Messages|
<snip>

** But Marcelo doesn't have a working XP installation, just a slaved disk,
and so can't open OE!

Marcelo, you need to search for files with the .dbx extension on your old
drive, as Philo said. The default location is:

C:\Documents and Settings\<name>\Local Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{string of characters}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

although it of course won't be "C:\" for you but some other letter.

Make sure you've enabled showing of Hidden Files, as Gerry said. You may
also need to take ownership of the files and folders on your slaved XP disk
from within Vista. There is a Microsoft article on how to do this for XP
here:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com:80/?kbid=308421

but I can't offhand see one for Vista. You could do your own research, or
just use the XP article as a guide - I expect the procedure to be largely
the same, barring a few UAC pop-ups. Caveat emptor, though.

If you still can't locate the DBX files, I'd suggest using a decent search
utility such as Agent Ransack (). I've never trusted XP's built in Search
function - its default setting *isn't* to search for all files or within all
files, it needs tweaking to do that. I don't know if Microsoft improved
things with Vista, but I'd guess not.

I take it (he said, somewhat prissily) that you haven't got a copy of your
e-mail messages, taken as part of your regular back-up routine, that you can
work from, then? ;-)

Once you've found the files, you'll then need to look into the business of
importing the messages into Windows Mail. This is beyond the scope of this
group, although you've had some good pointers already. I wouldn't go down
the path that you propose of using Vista's backup feature to restore files
from the slaved drive to Vista. That's going all round the houses (probably
a uniquely English expression!); once you've located the files, import them
directly using Windows Mail - however that's done, precisely. There *are*
differences between Windows Mail and OE, though not necessarily in the
underlying storage structure. You should do some research or post to a Vista
or Windows Mail group if you need assistance with that.

Good luck!

>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Gerry
> ~~~~
> FCA
> Stourport, England
> Enquire, plan and execute
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Marcelo wrote:
>> Thanks to all for your help, I suspected that files might be hidden
>> after browsing hundreds of files in my old HD (fitted to an external
>> case as an external USB HD) but thought (not mistakenly) that here I
>> would get the right help-
>>
>> I have thought of another way of doing it (finding the missing e-mail
>> files) just make a back-up of this external file into another disk
>> (or partition really this external HD is parttioned into 2 parts 60GB
>> each) with the Vista back-up feature and then restoring it to the C:
>> HD in the new PC, can this merge all the e-mail files into one file
>> accessed by the Windows Mail program?
>>
>> Thanks again
>>
>> Marcelo
>>
>> "Gerry" wrote:
>>
>>> DL
>>>
>>> I think you are mistaken.
>>>
>>> Windows Mail is Outlook Express with some features changed. Marcello
>>> will need to import the Outlook Express messages into Windows Mail.
>>> From what I remember the import feature in Windows Mail is similar
>>> to OE. Marcello's problem is that he cannot see the OE dbx files. In
>>> Windows XP dbx files are hidden by default and you need to enable
>>> Show Hidden Files to see them. There will be a similar procedure in
>>> Vista. Marcello has not explained how he has transferred other data
>>> files but it can be done either, by putting the XP disk in the Vista
>>> computer as a slave or, if the Vista computer can only take one
>>> drive then an external closure could be used. There would be other
>>> ways to transfer the files if you had access to a Windows XP
>>> computer but we do not know that Marcello has easy access to one.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hope this helps.
>>>
>>> Gerry
>>> ~~~~
>>> FCA
>>> Stourport, England
>>> Enquire, plan and execute
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> DL wrote:
>>>> Since the old drive was not Vista, its nothing much to do with Vista
>>>> untill it comes to connecting old mail files to Windows Mail
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:Ol42H7HpIHA.1768@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>>> Marcelo
>>>>>
>>>>> You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
>>>>> microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hope this helps.
>>>>>
>>>>> Gerry
>>>>> ~~~~
>>>>> FCA
>>>>> Stourport, England
>>>>> Enquire, plan and execute
>>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Marcelo wrote:
>>>>>> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new one
>>>>>> that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard disk from
>>>>>> the old computer. I have been able to save and transfer all my
>>>>>> working files but I am not able to find where do my old e-mails
>>>>>> are in the old HD, if I can get the location I will be able to
>>>>>> transfer them to my new PC.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
>>>>>> e-mails.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards
>
>



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Gerry

Gerry
Thu Apr 24 06:09:04 PDT 2008

Olorin

Comments are in line. I hope this does cause too many problems.

Olórin wrote:
> "Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:%23%23m%23K8cpIHA.4280@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Marcelo
>>
>> This should be answered by someone who uses Vista.
>
> ** Only regarding the importing into Windows Mail, as DL pointed out.
> The original question was, "Can any one out thre give me a clue on
> the location of the old e-mails," and the old e-mails are on an XP
> installation.

Yes but you cannot ignore what the other person is trying to achieve.
Finding the files is the easy part and any number of contributors to the
Windows Mail newsgroup are capable are advising on that aspect.of the
task.

> <snip>
>> To restore your mail folders, open OE and click File| Import|
>> Messages| <snip>
>
> ** But Marcelo doesn't have a working XP installation, just a slaved
> disk, and so can't open OE!

Did you read what I said? "The procedure will be similar to Outlook
Express, except you will need to locate the Store folder without having
Outlook Express to point the way."

>
snipped

>
> Make sure you've enabled showing of Hidden Files, as Gerry said. You
> may also need to take ownership of the files and folders on your
> slaved XP disk from within Vista. There is a Microsoft article on how
> to do this for XP here:
>
> How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
> http://support.microsoft.com:80/?kbid=308421
>
> but I can't offhand see one for Vista.

Well here's one. It may not be the complete story.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/27e9a81a-fac7-457f-896b-e0017a04a59f1033.mspx

>
snipped

>
> If you still can't locate the DBX files, I'd suggest using a decent
> search utility such as Agent Ransack (). I've never trusted XP's
> built in Search function - its default setting *isn't* to search for
> all files or within all files, it needs tweaking to do that. I don't
> know if Microsoft improved things with Vista, but I'd guess not.

In my view it is worse but many think it is better. It probably depends
on what type of thing you are searching for.

>
snipped

>There *are*
> differences between Windows Mail and OE, though not necessarily in
> the underlying storage structure.

The method of storage of messages is one of the few major changes
incorporated into Windows Mail. Outlook Express used a database
approach, whereby dbx files were folders containing the messages. In
Vista each messages is a file. This change was made to get round the
problems, which for years bugged users of Outlook Express. The problems
could be dramatic -one of the worst being the loss of thousands of
messages in the Inbox.

snipped


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>>>
>>> "Gerry" wrote:
>>>
>>>> DL
>>>>
>>>> I think you are mistaken.
>>>>
>>>> Windows Mail is Outlook Express with some features changed.
>>>> Marcello will need to import the Outlook Express messages into
>>>> Windows Mail. From what I remember the import feature in Windows
>>>> Mail is similar to OE. Marcello's problem is that he cannot see
>>>> the OE dbx files. In Windows XP dbx files are hidden by default
>>>> and you need to enable Show Hidden Files to see them. There will
>>>> be a similar procedure in Vista. Marcello has not explained how he
>>>> has transferred other data files but it can be done either, by
>>>> putting the XP disk in the Vista computer as a slave or, if the
>>>> Vista computer can only take one drive then an external closure
>>>> could be used. There would be other ways to transfer the files if
>>>> you had access to a Windows XP computer but we do not know that
>>>> Marcello has easy access to one. --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hope this helps.
>>>>
>>>> Gerry
>>>> ~~~~
>>>> FCA
>>>> Stourport, England
>>>> Enquire, plan and execute
>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> DL wrote:
>>>>> Since the old drive was not Vista, its nothing much to do with
>>>>> Vista untill it comes to connecting old mail files to Windows Mail
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "Gerry" <gerry@nospam.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:Ol42H7HpIHA.1768@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>>>> Marcelo
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You should ask your question in a Vista newgroup:
>>>>>> microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hope this helps.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Gerry
>>>>>> ~~~~
>>>>>> FCA
>>>>>> Stourport, England
>>>>>> Enquire, plan and execute
>>>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Marcelo wrote:
>>>>>>> My XP computer suffered a burned mother board so I have a new
>>>>>>> one that has Vista installed, I saved my old 120 GB C: hard
>>>>>>> disk from the old computer. I have been able to save and
>>>>>>> transfer all my working files but I am not able to find where
>>>>>>> do my old e-mails are in the old HD, if I can get the location
>>>>>>> I will be able to transfer them to my new PC.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Can any one out thre give me a clue on the location of the old
>>>>>>> e-mails.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards



Re: How to recover my e-mails from old hard disk by Frank

Frank
Thu Apr 24 17:37:33 PDT 2008

"Marcelo" <Marcelo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2E90C869-0ED6-46E3-A630-D6117326595A@microsoft.com...
> Thanks to all for your help, I suspected that files might be hidden after
> browsing hundreds of files in my old HD (fitted to an external case as an
> external USB HD) but thought (not mistakenly) that here I would get the
> right
> help-
>
> I have thought of another way of doing it (finding the missing e-mail
> files)
> just make a back-up of this external file into another disk (or partition
> really this external HD is parttioned into 2 parts 60GB each) with the
> Vista
> back-up feature and then restoring it to the C: HD in the new PC, can this
> merge all the e-mail files into one file accessed by the Windows Mail
> program?


It isn't anywhere as simple as that. WinMail stores each message as a
separate file.
If you used Outlook Express on the old computer, see
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#oe2wm
Pay special attention to the caution about the path.

--
Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
Do not reply with email