That worked!

Repairing folder 'E:\pegasusmail\MAIL\ADMIN\$RRL58J9.PMM'...
Folder repair completed normally - checking message IDs...
Made 5 ID corrections to folder '$RRL58J9.PMM'.
ID checking and correction completed without errors.
** Repair process completed normally. **
 

And indeed I can see the original Tray again. Thanks for this help!!

After a re-installation I have Pegasus running , but untill now was not able to see the old subfolders. I was able to retrieve a number of PMM and PMI files, and judging fro the file sizes there must me some mails in it.

Unfortunately the base names of the PMM and PMI files don't match. How can I make them a pair again?Haven't been able to find an old version of HIERARCH.PM

As an example here the first 4 PMI and PMM files as sorted by name:

$I00H1IH.PMI
$I0HIECI.PMI
$I2E5ZR9.PMI
$I2EF82N.PMI

$I2EF82N.PMM
$I5N65UE.PMM
$I9ZHULS.PMM
$IAN14G5.PMM

Some posts on the Forum describe similar problems but until now I ahve only seen situation in which the pairs were matching. 

E.g.: 

 http://community.pmail.com/forums/post/33479.aspx

"possible that a .pmm/.pmi pair did not get copied completely which could

leave you with an indexing issue.  Try creating a new directory that

will be added as a mailbox and then copy into it one of the .pmm/.pmi

file pairs from your original directory using Windows Explorer.  Attach

it as a mailbox then check the message folder contents to make sure

messages and message contents match.  If you encounter an indexing error

reindex the message folder.  Disconnect the mailbox.  Copy the next

.pmm./pmi pair and do the same. Repeat..."

If you don''t have a copy of your HIERARCH.PM, your trays (you call it subfolders) are lost. They reside only in that file. There is no corresponding PMM. So you have to rebuild your traxstructure manualy.

If your traystructure is lost, the folders that where in some trays, should show up at the top level. In your filesystem there should allways be a pair of PMM and PMI with same filename. Usually they start with FOLxxxxx.PMM/.PMI. PMI-files with no corresponding PMM-file may be deleted. The mails are in the PMM-files - PMI is only an index that may be recreated with Pegasus (-> contextmenue on folder). I wonder what these files are, because never saw a naming starting with $Ixxxxxx.PMM/.PMI with Pegasus. Have a look in the PMM with a texteditor. Are there mails in?

bye   Olaf

Were these files retrieved from a mailbox directory?  The leading dollar sign makes me think they might be discarded .PMM files resulting from a routine folder compaction by Pegasus Mail. 

Hi Olaf, thanks for your reply

indeed I can open the PMM files with notepad and see the mails amongst lots of code.
That the trays are lost is not a big problem, as long as I can access the mails.

What is Contextmenue on folder?

If I build the tray structure manually - what is the way to do it?

they were retrieved with recovery software from windows recycle bin where they apparantly were put after a new pegasus installation was conducted.

The PMM files that I looked at all contain readable messages, in one long text. 

Is there any way to manually rebuild the indexes? If all the mails are in one tray that would be okay, then they would be searchable.

thanks Brian, for your help.

These would not have come from a reinstall which only replaces or creates program files.  It leaves mail data alone.  Be prepared for the possibility of the .PMM files you are working with being corrupt or not current since they came from the recycle bin.

In the \PMAIL\PROGRAMS directory is a utility called MBXMAINT_UI.EXE.  This utility has a repair function the will reindex the selected folder (.PMM file).  There is also a "Check" function if you wish to only check for a problem.  It can only act on one file at a time.

Alternatively, from within Pegasus Mail you can right click on a folder name in the folder list to see the context menu options Olaf mentioned.  These include a "Reindex folder" option but I recommend using the MBXMAINT_UI utility