Missing e-mails from backed-up PST file

[Panos]

Environment : Acer Aspire 5650, XP Home, Office 2007

I Formatted my HDD. Before that I backed up (export to PST) all my outlook
contents (mails, contants, calendar, notes etc).
After clean re-installation of operating system and office, I imported the
backed up PST file to Outlook.
Everything went perfectly in place, except ... there are more than 300
important messages missing from the Inbox folder (Out of approx 2000
messages, 1700 restored as expected, but almost the whole of 2008 is missing,
Feb 08 onwards)

I did not use any filters in the backup process, I checked the subfolders
option. It's not an operating error, I' ve this before several times.

Any ideas ? Can I check the contents of the PST file without importing it
(or open it) to Outlook

 

[Pat Willener]

Backup & Restore are different things than Export & Import. You create
a backup by copying the original PST file (while Outlook is closed!),
then open the restored file with Outlook (not import).

Use correct backup, and you will find everything *exactly* as you had it
before the reinstall.

 

[Panos]

Ok, what I did is that I exported (File->Import and Export->Export to *.PST
file) and then I Imported by (File->Open->Outlook data file). Everything,
except those e-mails was there. Where are the missing e-mails ??

 

[Duncan McC]

You exported from your existing and complete PST file, to another PST
file, and, for whatever reasons, it has not exported everything.

You should have simply grabbed your existing (complete) PST file, and
backed it up (no export needed - the export function, AFAIK, is not a
backup function for PST files).

Is there anyway you can get the original PST?

Otherwise I think your emails are gone.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Well how should I say this. Never but never import\export pst files. It causes corruption and as you can see what happened to you.

Next time back up your pst files and then re-insert them to their place where they belong.

http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm#Export_pst-file

 

[Panos]

Thank you Peter, I guess my e-mails is history ...

 

[Peter Foldes]

Most probably yes. But if you still have the back up on an outside media then maybe not. On to what did you backup your pst files to.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Ok, what I did is that I exported (File->Import and Export->Export to
*.PST
file) and then I Imported by (File->Open->Outlook data file). Everything,
except those e-mails was there. Where are the missing e-mails ??

They're probably gone. Import and export ALWAYS loses data and is used only
for transferring data between Outlook and a non-Outlook program, never
between one Outlook instance and another.

 

[Panos]

No recent backup on other media I guess ...

And as Brian Tillman very reassuringly says "outlook export always loses data"

Oh well ...