Robert said:
Outlook 2007 deleted files from my ´Deleted Files¡ folder without giving me
any warning. The newly deleted filed werenÿt in the recycle bin and there
was no ´undo¡ option.
Where are these files now, and how can I get them back?
Deleted items never go into the Recycle Bin. That is a repository for
deleted *files*. Your message store for Outlook is inside just ONE
file: the .pst file. There are no files or folders within the message
store. Folders and items are terms used to represent the hierarchy
displayed for how the records are organized within the database.
When you delete an item, it doesn't get deleted but instead is merely
moved to another folder (Deleted Items). When you permanently delete
(aka hard delete) an item whether by using Shift+Delete or deleting them
from the Deleted Items folder then they are marked Deleted in the
database and Outlook hides delete-marked items.
Think of the Deleted Items folder like the Recycle Bin. What happens
when you clean out the Recycle Bin? You no longer have the files
available to recover them from the Recycle Bin (albeit there are file
system utilities to try to recover the old disk sectors if they haven't
been already reused). Once you hard-delete an item in Outlook, you're
stuck using low-level utilities to get at them from the .pst database
file. OutlookSpy lets you dig inside the .pst file. It isn't free but
its 1-month trial is fully functional. Microsoft has their own
MDBVU32.EXE utility to dig around inside the .pst file. Both require
some knowledge of how the database is constructed or a willingness to
experiment. Of course, you want to save a backup copy of your .pst file
before starting any of that low-level record manipulation inside the
database.
If you or Outlook ever compact the database, those delete-marked items
are physically purged from the file. A purge will reindex the remaining
items and reposition the records inside the database file to eliminate
the whitespace which leaves behind a smaller .pst file. Once the
compact is started or done, those delete-marked items are permanently
gone. You'll then have to restore the .pst file from your backups. If
you don't backup, you deem your data as trivial or reproducible. Users
make mistakes. Hard disks die. Fires consume computers, too. Thieves
steal whatever they can carry. Divorces happen. You need a means to
recover from disasters.
