Folder Sizes and PST file Size

[JKRAFT4PIT]

Hi,

We had a employee leave, quite readily, and they deleted all the items in
their email and we are trying to recover it. The actual file size says 150mb
but when inside outlook and open the "Folder Sizes" option it is only stating
<15mb.

I also tried importing the pst file and it imports to under 15mb also.

We are using outlook 2003.
It was a POP3 email setup.

Are the emails still there? Is there anything we can do?

any help would be appreciated,
Jordon

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Unless there is a backup of the .pst file, you might want to consider taking the .pst file to one of the recovery services listed here: http://www.slipstick.com/problems/scanpst.asp#tools

 

[JKRAFT4PIT]

Thanks for the link but I have tried those options already.

Those are for fixing the file when something goes wrong, but nothing went
wrong. So I am looking to recover data. We have hard drive recovery tools
for when people delete files but this file is in tack so nothing to recover.

any other suggestions?

 

[JKRAFT4PIT]

Since the file isn't corrupt those tools won't help . Thanks for trying.

Any other solutions?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I'd suggest you read the descriptions against. At least one of the tools claims to be able to recover deleted data from a .pst file.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Once the Deleted folder is emptied, the index is gone and your chances of
easy recovery are slim and none. If it hasn't compacted yet, you might have
a chance. Otherwise, a recovery service is your only hope.
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/recover_deleted.htm

 

[JKRAFT4PIT]

The link is about a "***Exchange server users "" and this is a POP3 user.

 

[JKRAFT4PIT]

Well i feel dumb. I did miss it thank you. I will try it and get back to you.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

No - the link is for both - with the main part of it for non-exchange users,
as exchange supports "deleted recovery".

 

[Pat Willener]

Since the file isn't corrupt those tools won't help . Thanks for trying.

Any other solutions?

You claim that the PST file size is still 150MB; this means that the
file has not been compacted, and the deleted messages are still there
(although marked 'deleted'). Some of the recovery services that Sue and
Diane have pointed out can easily retrieve these. The file does not need
to be corrupt to do this (although usually they are).

 

[Irradicant]

Some data recovery solution such as Active@ Undelete might prove
useful in this situation to restore file. You can try it
http://www.active-undelete.com/