Can't find data files Outlook 2000

[david]

A customer of mine called to say that his computer was dead. We sorted
out that it was his motherboard that was dead. He bought a replacement
computer and we installed the old hard disk in the new computer as a
slave to get the files off it. The only data they really needed was
their Outlook data - contacts and calendar were very important.

They were using XP Home and Outlook 2000.

I went looking for some data files but couldn't find anything. the
only pst file on the computer was 32k and was an original start up
file. I checked for files changed in the last 5 days and could find
nothing that looked like an Outlook data file.

There are no errors on the hard disk so I don't think any files have
been inadvertently trashed. I have checked theior network and I cannot
see that they were using a networked data file.

I have installed Outlook 2003 on the new hard disk and made sure
nothing was changed on the old one.

Has anyone any idea what might have happened. Am I even looking for
the right things?

David

 

[Scott Atkins[MSFT]]

Hi David,

Yes, you're definitely looking for the right file. For personal users who do not have an Exchange Server, Outlook data is stored in Personal Folder files (*.pst). Outlook uses Personal
Folder files to store Information such as messages, contacts, calendar, etc.

Is there any chance this customer was connected to an Exchange server mailbox? If not, the data must be in a .PST file, and if it's not on the machine or a share, it's possible tht the file is
hidden or possibly deleted.

Please refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles to learn more about backing up the Outlook data and Office program settings.

Q287070 OL2002: How to Back Up, Restore, or Move Outlook Data
<http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q287/0/70.asp>
Note: this article is also adapted to Outlook 2003.

Regards,

Scott Atkins MCSE, MCSA
Partner Technical Lead - Outlook
Microsoft Technical Support
for Platforms and Business Applications
--------------------

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Did you enable show hidden files and folders?
http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/filepath.htm

 

[david]

Did you enable show hidden files and folders?
http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/filepath.htm

I 'thought' I did. I will go back and check. Thanks for the pointer.

David

 

[xmas tree]

Scott, hi

I downloaded Office 2007 Beta but after a couple of weeks to try it out but
have now gone back to 2003. I use Outlook lots so I backed up, archived and
all the rest.

When I reinstalled Outlook 2003, my mail and contacts were automatically
reinstated but my 'tasks' had the totles but no contents. When I tried to
download .pst files, I got an error notice "...archive.pst is not compatible
with this version of the Personal Folders information service. Contact your
administrator". I'm my own administrator but I'm none the wiser. I have a
load of back-up .pst files from the 1st back up before I installed 2007 and
from the 2nd before I went back to 2003. Whatever I do, I can't seem to
access them for the info that's in there. Any ideas, please?

Many thanks

Xmas