Recover unsaved msn chat files?

[KingstonU]

I usually have my conversations saved, but there was a lightning strike one day that turned of my computer and the chat was never saved, usually I don't care, but this one had some important advice!

Someone claims it is possible to recover them from the temporary internet files in this forum

So I can find my temporary internet files (I think this is it: C:\Documents and Settings\Paul\Local Settings\Temp\MessengerCache) but there is a lot of junk in there with random file names, there is one folder called MessengerCache with a lot of files but I can't open them. Some files seem to be there since 2007! I am using XP Pro SP3 btw.

Any help in retrieving this is greatly appreciated!

 

[mpilchfamily]

If you had just closed out the chat then you you could dig up the cache and find it. but since the system shutdown instanly in the middle of the chat the information was likely lost.

 

[KingstonU]

How could I dig up the cache to find it? And how long does it remain in the cache if the computer is left on? This would be great for future reference. Thanks a lot.

 

[mpilchfamily]

It should be somewhere in you temporary internet files.

What to look for? don't know
How long does it stay there? Depends on your settings for clearing the tempory files. Often the data is cleared after a couple of days or once the cache/temp folder reaches a certain capacity. If you been surfing around on the net for the past 3 days or so then its likly lost. But like i said before. Chances are the chat didn't get a chance to be saved to any permanent folder. It was likely still sitting in the RAM waiting to be writen to the HDD. So the instant shutdown caused you to loose it.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Its gone, msn doesnt save in temp internet files, it saves in the users directory structure. If the power went out it never got a chance to be written to disk and is thus toast. Good lesson on getting a decent UPS

 

[KingstonU]

Yah I had never considered getting one before. Do many people actually get those or even consider them standard? Laptops for example don't have this problem. I know that in 3rd world countries, if they have a computer, they likely have a pig UPS due to the irregular nature of the electricity.

Well I did save all that was in the temp folder, and will hopefully find a way to go through the odd files in the small chance it is there. Thanks for the help.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: KingstonU
Yah I had never considered getting one before. Do many people actually get those or even consider them standard? Laptops for example don't have this problem. I know that in 3rd world countries, if they have a computer, they likely have a pig UPS due to the irregular nature of the electricity.

Well I did save all that was in the temp folder, and will hopefully find a way to go through the odd files in the small chance it is there. Thanks for the help.

I have one for my home pc and recommend if you ever work on anything semi important you should have one as well.