lost contacts

[Mike]

Hello, I recently had a crash and had to format my C drive on my win xp
computer. I have outlook 2003 and an add-on program that regularly backs up
all my data from the program to a second hard drive, or at least I thought
it did. Anyway, after reinstalling everything I found that I had several
empty pst files and a few that had some old email messages. No addresses or
notes. The program that I have saves the files after outlook closes. I dl'd
it from
microsoft office site. To open the pst, I use File/Open/Data File to select
the pst. There are several of them and I have tried them all.
I have saved all of these files just in case there is some way to
salvage them. Is there? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Mike K.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Didn't you copy the PST file? That's the only reliable way to back it up. If
none of your copies of PST files contain your data, then the backup utility
didn't work. Just copying your PST file will.

 

[Mike]

Am I opening these files correctly. This happened once before and after a
alot of playing around I finally found my data, I hadn't opened them
properly; I just don't remember what I did. I don't remember what the backup
utility is but I got it from the Office download site. Are you stating that
I should manually copy these files to another drive. Also, why does outlook
create so many of them instead of just rewriting the old one every time?
Sorry for so many questions but this is driving me nuts, I had a lot of
important contacts and notes that disappeared.

Mike K.

Didn't you copy the PST file? That's the only reliable way to back it up. If
none of your copies of PST files contain your data, then the backup utility
didn't work. Just copying your PST file will.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hello, I recently had a crash and had to format my C drive on my win xp
computer. I have outlook 2003 and an add-on program that regularly backs
up
all my data from the program to a second hard drive, or at least I thought
it did. Anyway, after reinstalling everything I found that I had several
empty pst files and a few that had some old email messages. No addresses
or
notes. The program that I have saves the files after outlook closes. I
dl'd
it from
microsoft office site. To open the pst, I use File/Open/Data File to
select
the pst. There are several of them and I have tried them all.
I have saved all of these files just in case there is some way to
salvage them. Is there? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Mike K.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

There is only one way to open a PST file and that is from Outlook: File >
Open > Outlook Data File (or Personal Folders file on older versions).
Outlook does not create new PST files unless you create a new profile.
Simply copying your default PST file with Outlook closed is the easiest and
safest way to back it up. --
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Am I opening these files correctly. This happened once before and after a
alot of playing around I finally found my data, I hadn't opened them
properly; I just don't remember what I did. I don't remember what the backup
utility is but I got it from the Office download site. Are you stating that
I should manually copy these files to another drive. Also, why does outlook
create so many of them instead of just rewriting the old one every time?
Sorry for so many questions but this is driving me nuts, I had a lot of
important contacts and notes that disappeared.

Mike K.

Didn't you copy the PST file? That's the only reliable way to back it

up.

If
none of your copies of PST files contain your data, then the backup utility
didn't work. Just copying your PST file will.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hello, I recently had a crash and had to format my C drive on my win xp
computer. I have outlook 2003 and an add-on program that regularly backs
up
all my data from the program to a second hard drive, or at least I thought
it did. Anyway, after reinstalling everything I found that I had several
empty pst files and a few that had some old email messages. No addresses
or
notes. The program that I have saves the files after outlook closes. I
dl'd
it from
microsoft office site. To open the pst, I use File/Open/Data File to
select
the pst. There are several of them and I have tried them all.
I have saved all of these files just in case there is some way to
salvage them. Is there? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Mike K.