How to Backup Outlook Express Emails to External Hard Drive

About Outlook Express

Outlook Express is an email client developed by Microsoft that allows you to store, manage, send, and receive email messages. And it uses the Windows Address Book to store contact information and integrates tightly with it.  

It is free and comes bundled with the Internet Explorer web browser, from 3.0 to 6.0. However, it was disconnected within the 7.0 version and replaced by a new version of Outlook Express named Windows Live Mail. Thus, many users want to backup Outlook Express emails to external hard drive to protect their valuable data or to prepare for import to Outlook.

How to Backup Outlook Express Emails to External Hard Drive 

Here you will learn two effective methods of backing up emails in Outlook Express. You can choose to backup Outlook Express emails manually or automatically.

Way 1: Backup Emails in Outlook Express Manually

The messages in every Outlook Express folder are stored in two files, a *.idx file and a *.dbx file, on your system. And the Outlook Express user files (.DBX and .WAB) in WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3  are hidden by default. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders option.

1. Open your external hard drive and create a new folder in it, Outlook Express backup, for example.

2. Open Outlook Express. Click on the Tools tab and select Options.

3. Then, in the Options window, click on the Maintenance tab and select Store Folder... It will show you the folder location of your Outlook Express data.

4. Press Ctrl + A to highlight the store location. Right-click it and select Copy. Then, click OK twice to close the Store location and open the dialog window.

5. Click Start and select Run. Right-click in the Run window and select Paste to input the folder location of your Outlook Express data. Then, click OK to open it.

6. Press Ctrl + A to select all the files in this folder. Then, click Edit and Copy.

7. Switch to the folder created on the external hard drive. Right-click within this folder and select Paste.

Way 2: Backup Outlook Express Emails in Microsoft Outlook

If you import Outlook Express emails to Outlook, it will be saved in your Inbox folder. So you just need to backup this folder in your Outlook email account. To make this run automatically, you need powerful Outlook backup software - AOMEI Backupper Professional.

It offers you the “Outlook Backup” feature to backup entire Outlook mailbox including the emails imported from Outlook Express.

It allows you to auto backup Outlook folders with “Daily”, “Weekly”, “Monthly” or “Event triggers”. In a scheduled task, you can even wake the computer to backup task at a specific time.

It is able to backup Outlook emails to local drive, external disk, network drive, NAS device or cloud drive.

To get started, please download this powerful backup software. Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP and Vista are supported in this version. For server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server.

1. Add the Outlook account containing emails imported from Outlook Express and close it. Then, open AOMEI Backupper Professional and click Backup and Outlook Backup.

2. Click Add Outlook data and select the Inbox folder of this Outlook account. Then click OK.

3. Click Select a local path and choose your external hard drive to save emails in your Outlook inbox folder.  

4. Enable Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Event triggers schedule backup and be sure the option Wake the computer to run scheduled task is checked if you want to run this backup at a specific time.

5. Confirm you select all the emails imported from Outlook Express and click Start Backup to backup Outlook Express emails to external hard drive.

Notes:

• The Event triggers don’t support the Wake the computer to run scheduled task option.
• In a scheduled task, this software will enable incremental backup to backup only changed files. You can also change it to differential backup that is based on full backup and safer.
• Besides, you can also enable automatic backup cleanup in Backup Scheme to delete old backup images automatically.

How to Import Outlook Express Emails to Microsoft Outlook?

If you want to import emails from Outlook Express to Microsoft Outlook, but don’t know, follow the steps below.

1. Open Import and Export Wizard.

• In Outlook 2010, on the File tab, click Open > Import.
• In Outlook 2007, on the File menu, click Import and Export.

2. Select Import Internet Mail and Addresses and click Next.

3. Click Outlook Express and check Import mail. Then, click Next and Finish.

Notes:

• If you want to save a copy of the import summary in your inbox, remember to click Save in Inbox.
• If your Outlook Express and Outlook are installed on a different computer, you need to copy the Outlook Express folder to the computer where Outlook is installed.

FAQs about Outlook Express

✍ Where are Outlook Express emails stored?

The emails are store in a folder known as "store root" or "store root folder". It is also called the "Store root directory". The location by default is in C:\Windows\Application Data\Outlook Express\{GUID} or C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.

✍ Are Outlook Express the same as Outlook?

Outlook Express uses a completely different code base than Outlook and they are indeed separate programs. But you can import emails from Outlook Express to Outlook.

Summary

This article introduces you to 2 effective methods to backup Outlook Express emails to external hard drive. It’s suggested to import emails in Outlook Express to Outlook, since it’s a full-featured email server, especially for business users.

To protect your emails safely, the best way is to backup entire Outlook mailbox automatically with powerful backup software - AOMEI Backupper Professional. It supports 4 schedule backup options so you can make it easier.