Hi.

I recently had reason to reinstall Vista on my machine which had the
effect of getting rid of all my mail in Outlook 2003.
Partly my fault.

Not to worry I thought, Vista ran a backup a few days ago to a
partition named Z:

If I try and restore the files via Vista, the process reports that the
drive is not accessible.

It most definitely is ...... I can get into it and see the .pst files
for myself though they are all zipped.

If I unzip them manually and restore them to the relevant location in
Vista, they are reported as not being the right type of file ..... if I
try it in any other location, same thing.

I cannot 'import' them either.

Can I please enquire of two things ..... has anybody else had issues
with restoring Outlook 2003 mail in Vista

and

with what are the .pst files associated with?
(mine are associated with Microsoft Office Outlook)


Thanks

Mick


--

This article should answer all of your questions about backup and restoration
of Outlook data: http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


"Mick" wrote:

>
> Hi.
>
> I recently had reason to reinstall Vista on my machine which had the
> effect of getting rid of all my mail in Outlook 2003.
> Partly my fault.
>
> Not to worry I thought, Vista ran a backup a few days ago to a
> partition named Z:
>
> If I try and restore the files via Vista, the process reports that the
> drive is not accessible.
>
> It most definitely is ...... I can get into it and see the .pst files
> for myself though they are all zipped.
>
> If I unzip them manually and restore them to the relevant location in
> Vista, they are reported as not being the right type of file ..... if I
> try it in any other location, same thing.
>
> I cannot 'import' them either.
>
> Can I please enquire of two things ..... has anybody else had issues
> with restoring Outlook 2003 mail in Vista
>
> and
>
> with what are the .pst files associated with?
> (mine are associated with Microsoft Office Outlook)
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Mick
>
>
> --
>
>

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] wrote:

> This article should answer all of your questions about backup and
> restoration of Outlook data:
> http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm

Thanks for that link - but it doesn't quite do the biz so to speak.

Can someone advise what the /pst files are associated with please - I
have a feeling that a corruption has occurred and that this is the root
of my issues.

Thanks
Mick

--

Mick <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> If I unzip them manually and restore them to the relevant location in
> Vista, they are reported as not being the right type of file ..... if
> I try it in any other location, same thing.

Then they are trash. Apparently your backup program is unable to handle
PSTs properly. Outlook MUST be closed when you perform any backup.
--
Brian Tillman

Brian Tillman wrote:

> Mick <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> > If I unzip them manually and restore them to the relevant location
> > in Vista, they are reported as not being the right type of file
> > ..... if I try it in any other location, same thing.
>
> Then they are trash. Apparently your backup program is unable to
> handle PSTs properly. Outlook MUST be closed when you perform any
> backup.

Oh b**ger.

Thanks
Mick

--

But when you say you restored the .PST files to "the relevant location" in
Vista, what do you mean by the relevant location? You don't have to put a
..PST file in any certain place; as long as it's accessible to your Windows
profile, it's fine. Also, .PST files must be opened through Outlook; you
can't open them from Windows Explorer. Post back and let me know if any of
this helps.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


"Mick" wrote:

> Brian Tillman wrote:
>
> > Mick <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> > > If I unzip them manually and restore them to the relevant location
> > > in Vista, they are reported as not being the right type of file
> > > ..... if I try it in any other location, same thing.
> >
> > Then they are trash. Apparently your backup program is unable to
> > handle PSTs properly. Outlook MUST be closed when you perform any
> > backup.
>
> Oh b**ger.
>
> Thanks
> Mick
>
> --
>
>

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] wrote:

> But when you say you restored the .PST files to "the relevant
> location" in Vista, what do you mean by the relevant location? You
> don't have to put a .PST file in any certain place; as long as it's
> accessible to your Windows profile, it's fine. Also, .PST files must
> be opened through Outlook; you can't open them from Windows Explorer.
> Post back and let me know if any of this helps.

Well, what I mean is that having reinstalled a fresh copy of Outlook, i
located the .pst files in their default location.
I replaced them with the 'saved' .pst files and re opened Outlook -
which subsequently reported that they were not files of the correct
type.

I have since discovered that my saved.pst files are associated with
Outlook - whereas on other machines using Outlook, the files are not
associated with any specific software.
I wondered if this could be an issue ....... but how to 'dosassociate'
them?

Mick

--

First of all, don't overwrite one .PST file with another; it only causes
problems. Try re-copying your .PST files from the backup to another place on
your hard drive, make sure they are not marked read-only, then try to open
them within Outlook and see if that makes a difference.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


"Mick" wrote:

> Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] wrote:
>
> > But when you say you restored the .PST files to "the relevant
> > location" in Vista, what do you mean by the relevant location? You
> > don't have to put a .PST file in any certain place; as long as it's
> > accessible to your Windows profile, it's fine. Also, .PST files must
> > be opened through Outlook; you can't open them from Windows Explorer.
> > Post back and let me know if any of this helps.
>
> Well, what I mean is that having reinstalled a fresh copy of Outlook, i
> located the .pst files in their default location.
> I replaced them with the 'saved' .pst files and re opened Outlook -
> which subsequently reported that they were not files of the correct
> type.
>
> I have since discovered that my saved.pst files are associated with
> Outlook - whereas on other machines using Outlook, the files are not
> associated with any specific software.
> I wondered if this could be an issue ....... but how to 'dosassociate'
> them?
>
> Mick
>
> --
>
>

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] wrote:

> First of all, don't overwrite one .PST file with another; it only
> causes problems. Try re-copying your .PST files from the backup to
> another place on your hard drive, make sure they are not marked
> read-only, then try to open them within Outlook and see if that makes
> a difference.

Ok - here's what happens.

I have something like 25 or so .pst files backed up as zipped files.

each one is called Outlook.pst

When un-zipping, each one overwrite the other, so in the end I'm left
with one file.

If I try and open that with Outlook, it generates the error message
that it's not a 'personal folders file.

I believe this whole problem has come about because all the files
backed up are associated with Outlook - they are all named Outlook.pst
despite being saved in the same backup routine.

I think I need to dis-associate the files in order to restore them to
their original status ..... but I don't know how.

I can easily associate them - but not the other way about.

Mick

I don't think disassociating them would help at all. Your zip/unzip program
doesn't allow you to choose where to put the unzipped file? Try WinRAR...
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm (choose the first file; it's a free trial
edition).

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


"Mick" wrote:

> Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] wrote:
>
> > First of all, don't overwrite one .PST file with another; it only
> > causes problems. Try re-copying your .PST files from the backup to
> > another place on your hard drive, make sure they are not marked
> > read-only, then try to open them within Outlook and see if that makes
> > a difference.
>
> Ok - here's what happens.
>
> I have something like 25 or so .pst files backed up as zipped files.
>
> each one is called Outlook.pst
>
> When un-zipping, each one overwrite the other, so in the end I'm left
> with one file.
>
> If I try and open that with Outlook, it generates the error message
> that it's not a 'personal folders file.
>
> I believe this whole problem has come about because all the files
> backed up are associated with Outlook - they are all named Outlook.pst
> despite being saved in the same backup routine.
>
> I think I need to dis-associate the files in order to restore them to
> their original status ..... but I don't know how.
>
> I can easily associate them - but not the other way about.
>
> Mick
>
>