Aug 05, 2013 After doing the re-install, I would like to recover some of the e-mail messages. I can find the Outlook Express folder on the external hard drive, but nothing in the folder has the appearance of a file that would be an e-mail message. To import your Outlook Express e-mail messages from the Backup folder: On the File menu, point to Import, and then click Messages. In the Select an e-mail program to import from box, click Microsoft Outlook Express 5 or Microsoft Outlook Express 6, and then click Next.