"not a personal folders file (.pst)" opening backup Outlook.pst

[JimmyZ]

I am attempting to recover from Hard Disk Crash and have installed the same
Office Outlook 2003 version as I had on the system that crashed. When
attempting to open or import a backup Outlook.pst file to the new system I
keep getting the following error message.

The file C:\Documents and Settings/User/My Documents\ABSI\Outlook.pst is not
a personal folders file.

I am simply reinstalling an Office Outlook 2003 .pst file to the same
version of Outlook 2003 on a new computer. Any Suggestions???

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Suggest posting the steps you used to create, transfer, and "reinstall" this
PST file. Importing is never the right way to do this.

 

[JimmyZ]

I just made a simple drag and drop copy of Outlook.pst from my previous
system to CDROM. I then did a drag and drop from the CDROM to my current
system. The file lists in the the folder where I placed it, displays the
Office Data File and Icon. I have tried at least 4 different ways to open the
file in Outlook.
1.) File/Open/Outlook Data File
2.) File/Data File Management/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders File (.pst)
3.) Tools/Options/Mail Setup/Data Files/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders
File (.pst)
4.) Though I am going from Outlook Office Professional 2003 to the same
version of Outlook on the new system, I even tried "File/Data File
Management/Add/Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst)"

Xp seems to recognize the restored file as a .pst but Outlook will not allow
it to open.
JimmyZ

Suggest posting the steps you used to create, transfer, and "reinstall" this
PST file. Importing is never the right way to do this.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I am attempting to recover from Hard Disk Crash and have installed the same
Office Outlook 2003 version as I had on the system that crashed. When
attempting to open or import a backup Outlook.pst file to the new system
I
keep getting the following error message.

The file C:\Documents and Settings/User/My Documents\ABSI\Outlook.pst is
not
a personal folders file.

I am simply reinstalling an Office Outlook 2003 .pst file to the same
version of Outlook 2003 on a new computer. Any Suggestions???

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

When you wrote Outlook.pst to the CDROM, it was given the READ ONLY file
attribute by the file system. That setting came with the file when you
returned it to your new hard drive and Outlook will NOT open a READ ONLY
..pst file. Locate it on your hard drive, right click it and select
'Properties', then UNcheck the "Read-only" checkbox. The file should now
open.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Still Cadillacin' - www.badnewsbluesband.com

I just made a simple drag and drop copy of Outlook.pst from my previous
system to CDROM. I then did a drag and drop from the CDROM to my current
system. The file lists in the the folder where I placed it, displays the
Office Data File and Icon. I have tried at least 4 different ways to open the
file in Outlook.
1.) File/Open/Outlook Data File
2.) File/Data File Management/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders File (.pst)
3.) Tools/Options/Mail Setup/Data Files/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders
File (.pst)
4.) Though I am going from Outlook Office Professional 2003 to the same
version of Outlook on the new system, I even tried "File/Data File
Management/Add/Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst)"

Xp seems to recognize the restored file as a .pst but Outlook will not allow
it to open.
JimmyZ

Suggest posting the steps you used to create, transfer, and "reinstall" this
PST file. Importing is never the right way to do this.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I am attempting to recover from Hard Disk Crash and have installed the same
Office Outlook 2003 version as I had on the system that crashed. When
attempting to open or import a backup Outlook.pst file to the new system
I
keep getting the following error message.

The file C:\Documents and Settings/User/My Documents\ABSI\Outlook.pst is
not
a personal folders file.

I am simply reinstalling an Office Outlook 2003 .pst file to the same
version of Outlook 2003 on a new computer. Any Suggestions???

 

[Brian Tillman]

I just made a simple drag and drop copy of Outlook.pst from my
previous system to CDROM. I then did a drag and drop from the CDROM
to my current system.

Was Outlook open at the time? Once you get the "not a PST" message, the PST
is generally unrecoverable. One way to cause this is to burn it to a CD
with Outlook (or the MAPI profile) open or to have your PC crash with
Outlook open. I've seen anecdotal evidence as well that some CD burning
programs do not handle PSTs well. There are commercially-available PST
recover utilities that may be able to help, but nothing that comes with
Outlook. I think your PST is toast.

 

[JimmyZ]

Thanks ...I was afraid from the looks of it that it would require some
special recovery untilitiy. I will do some research and see what I can find.
Will make another posting if I find something...
Thanks again to Brian, Russ and Hal...
JimmyZ

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks ...I was afraid from the looks of it that it would require some
special recovery untilitiy. I will do some research and see what I
can find.

You can start here: http://www.slipstick.com/problems/scanpst.htm#tools

 

[AWTLINDA]

This happened to me as well. The answers given do not work! Maybe if it
happened before we lost everything it would have! Thanks anyway. This program
seemed to be easy to back up, but boy recovering it is one mess! LOL

I just made a simple drag and drop copy of Outlook.pst from my previous
system to CDROM. I then did a drag and drop from the CDROM to my current
system. The file lists in the the folder where I placed it, displays the
Office Data File and Icon. I have tried at least 4 different ways to open the
file in Outlook.
1.) File/Open/Outlook Data File
2.) File/Data File Management/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders File (.pst)
3.) Tools/Options/Mail Setup/Data Files/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders
File (.pst)
4.) Though I am going from Outlook Office Professional 2003 to the same
version of Outlook on the new system, I even tried "File/Data File
Management/Add/Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst)"

Xp seems to recognize the restored file as a .pst but Outlook will not allow
it to open.
JimmyZ

Suggest posting the steps you used to create, transfer, and "reinstall" this
PST file. Importing is never the right way to do this.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I am attempting to recover from Hard Disk Crash and have installed the same
Office Outlook 2003 version as I had on the system that crashed. When
attempting to open or import a backup Outlook.pst file to the new system
I
keep getting the following error message.

The file C:\Documents and Settings/User/My Documents\ABSI\Outlook.pst is
not
a personal folders file.

I am simply reinstalling an Office Outlook 2003 .pst file to the same
version of Outlook 2003 on a new computer. Any Suggestions???

 

[Onder Oz]

I have tried every sugegstion there exist! I expoerted my .pst file bruned it
on DVD , and formatted my pc adn can not recover now any help will be
great!!!!. I moved back.pst to my hardsik so it is nor read-only .. i tired
scanpst , does not help still the problem exits....

This happened to me as well. The answers given do not work! Maybe if it
happened before we lost everything it would have! Thanks anyway. This program
seemed to be easy to back up, but boy recovering it is one mess! LOL

I just made a simple drag and drop copy of Outlook.pst from my previous
system to CDROM. I then did a drag and drop from the CDROM to my current
system. The file lists in the the folder where I placed it, displays the
Office Data File and Icon. I have tried at least 4 different ways to open the
file in Outlook.
1.) File/Open/Outlook Data File
2.) File/Data File Management/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders File (.pst)
3.) Tools/Options/Mail Setup/Data Files/Add/Outlook Office Personal Folders
File (.pst)
4.) Though I am going from Outlook Office Professional 2003 to the same
version of Outlook on the new system, I even tried "File/Data File
Management/Add/Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst)"

Xp seems to recognize the restored file as a .pst but Outlook will not allow
it to open.
JimmyZ

Suggest posting the steps you used to create, transfer, and "reinstall" this
PST file. Importing is never the right way to do this.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I am attempting to recover from Hard Disk Crash and have installed the same
Office Outlook 2003 version as I had on the system that crashed. When
attempting to open or import a backup Outlook.pst file to the new system
I
keep getting the following error message.

The file C:\Documents and Settings/User/My Documents\ABSI\Outlook.pst is
not
a personal folders file.

I am simply reinstalling an Office Outlook 2003 .pst file to the same
version of Outlook 2003 on a new computer. Any Suggestions???

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Moving the file to your hard drive from a DVD doesn't turn off the read-only flag. You must do that after you copy the file

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have tried every sugegstion there exist! I expoerted my .pst file
bruned it on DVD , and formatted my pc adn can not recover now any
help will be great!!!!.

Your first mistake was exporting. Also, you must have Outlook closed when
you burn a PST to disk. Also, you should always TEST the backup prior to
burning your bridges.