Retrieving old ICQ history from a DAT file

[bubblevision]

In 2002 I did an upgrade between 2 ICQ versions (not sure which). My history did not migrate from one version to the next. That was very annoying. But I saved the old .DAT file that contained the history. It's called like 40670726.DAT and it's 4390Kb. The file contains the chat text along with lots of mixed-in rubbish.

Does anyone know a way to retrieve the data in a usable form? If I reinstalled let's say ICQ99b (alongside my 2003b using the method in the FAQ's) would I just be able to drop the history in and open it, and possibly even migrate it through to my current version?

That history has great sentimental value to me so any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[Shmanky]

ICQ.com has a database history converter that you can use to retrieve your old data.

http://www.icq.com/download/db_convert/

[Yorik]

In 2002 I did an upgrade between 2 ICQ versions (not sure which). My history did not migrate from one version to the next. That was very annoying. But I saved the old .DAT file that contained the history. It's called like 40670726.DAT and it's 4390Kb. The file contains the chat text along with lots of mixed-in rubbish.

Does anyone know a way to retrieve the data in a usable form? If I reinstalled let's say ICQ99b (alongside my 2003b using the method in the FAQ's) would I just be able to drop the history in and open it, and possibly even migrate it through to my current version?

That history has great sentimental value to me so any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

You should try Belkasoft tool called Belkasoft ICQ History Extractor Pro. In case you have index file (.IDX) it will extract all your history better than even ICQ itself. If you do not have index file, you can purchase other (more expensive) Belkasoft product called Forensic IM Extractor. All these products could be found on their site at http://belkasoft.com. Good luck with your history!

[Eagle_Kiwi]

I used a little (free) program called ICQhr (History Read) with great success, about 4 years ago. It simply produced a separate file in html form from my ICQ Dat file, so I could then easily read all my old conversations without even needing ICQ open.

I don't know if it's actually still available, AND I suspect it may be from a dubious source, but it might be worth your trying (with caution, checking for viruses etc) (though I don't wanna SCARE you )

Please let's know back here if/how you did tackle your problem, Bubblevision.
That may help others who tread this path.