Need help recovering Outlook 2000 data

[Jean-Marc]

My motherboard crashed recently and I had to replace and reinstall O/S,
Win2000 Prof. I have just reinstalled Office 2000. When I ran Outlook for
the first time, it asked me where my post office file was, so I pointed to
the backup of my old .pst file (on my old hard drive, which is installed as
the slave on my new system). I thought Outlook would create a NEW .pst file
on my primary hard drive, but it is using the old file on my second hard
drive.

How can I change Outlook so that it is using a .pst file on my primary hard
drive (in C:\Documents and Settings)? Do I have to remove everything from
Outlook and then use IMPORT to re-create the data on drive C? I would like
to be able, ultimately, to remove the old drive from my system.

Thanks so much for any help you can give me!

Jean-Marc

 

[Brian Tillman]

How can I change Outlook so that it is using a .pst file on my
primary hard drive (in C:\Documents and Settings)? Do I have to
remove everything from Outlook and then use IMPORT to re-create the
data on drive C? I would like to be able, ultimately, to remove the
old drive from my system.

Are you using OL 2000 in Internet Mail Only mode or Corporate/Workgroup
mode? Help>About will tell you.

 

[Jean-Marc]

I'm using Corporate/Workgroup mode.

Thanks!
J-M

Are you using OL 2000 in Internet Mail Only mode or Corporate/Workgroup
mode? Help>About will tell you.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm using Corporate/Workgroup mode.

Then you have several approaches you can take. One way is to, in Outlook,
click FIle>Open>Personal Folders File, browse to the PST you want to use,
select it, and click OK. This will get it into Outlook's Folder List. Then
Click Tools>Services, and on the Delivery tab, select the just-opened PST as
the delivery location. Stop and restart Outlook and it should then be using
the original PST. FInally, you can right-click the root of the PST you
don't want and choose Close to remove it from the folder list.

 

[Jean-Marc]

Thanks for the suggestions, Brian. I'm a bit pressed for time, so I can't
really try anything right now.

However, I'm not very clear about your method. As I previously stated, when
I ran Outlook for
the first time, it asked me where my post office file was, so I pointed to
the backup of my old
..pst file (on my old hard drive, which is installed as the slave on my new
system). There is no .pst
file in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserID, which is where it
belongs, so I can't just
browse to the PST file that I want to use. I need to CREATE a new PST file
on drive C in the
proper location.

Perhaps I should just export all of my current data to PST files, then start
over somehow and
import them back in.

If you have any further thoughts, I would be grateful. I apologize that my
schedule is so chaotic
at the moment that I can't really think very clearly!

Thanks again for you assistance.

 

[Brian Tillman]

However, I'm not very clear about your method. As I previously
stated, when I ran Outlook for
the first time, it asked me where my post office file was, so I
pointed to the backup of my old
.pst file (on my old hard drive, which is installed as the slave on
my new system). There is no .pst
file in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserID, which is where
it belongs, so I can't just
browse to the PST file that I want to use.

Are you sure? The default location for a PST is in the folder x:\Documents
and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook, which
is a hidden folder by default. Use the Folder Options applet in Control
Panel to enable viewing hidden files and folders. If you find it, you can
use it right where it is or move it to a better place, such as your new C
drive.

I need to CREATE a new PST file on drive C in the proper location.

File>New>Outlook Data File.

Perhaps I should just export all of my current data to PST files,
then start over somehow and import them back in.

Never EVER export to or import from a PST. It's unnecessary, loses data,
and can corrpt your mail profile. Just reuse the existing PST.