Can't import Archived pst to Outlook 2000 XP

[Guest]

My PC had started to act up, so I archived all my mail to a .pst file (about
580 MB). Few days later, the PC crashed, sent it in, and got the computer
back, with everything wiped out and reloaded. I have office 2000 on XP.

I moved the .pst file to desktop so that outlook can grab it from disk. It
is NOT a read only file. (at least according to the "properties")

I tried "import"ing it, and it only imported the file structure but not the
emails. I tried importing just one folder at a time (without sub folders),
and also tried importing all to a new folder - nothing worked.

Tried file - open -file, and it does nothing..

Any suggestions?
Thanks..

 

[Robert Findlay [MSFT]]

Here is an article that explains how to use the Inbox Repair Tool to try
and recover data from a corrupt/damaged pst file,
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;197315.

I hope this information is helpful.

Robert Findlay
Partner Technical Lead -- BizApps
Microsoft Technical Support for Platforms and Business Applications

 

[Brian Tillman]

My PC had started to act up, so I archived all my mail to a .pst file
(about 580 MB).

Describe exactly how.

I tried "import"ing it, and it only imported the file structure but
not the emails. I tried importing just one folder at a time (without
sub folders), and also tried importing all to a new folder - nothing
worked.

Tried file - open -file, and it does nothing..

Does nothing? Not even open the file and show you empty folders?

It sounds like whatever process you used to "archive" your mail is at fault
and generated an empty PST.

 

[Guest]

I had the computer "archive" all messages/ folders older than 1 day, and that
is how I archived the entire in box... What that the wrong thing to do?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I had the computer "archive" all messages/ folders older than 1 day,
and that is how I archived the entire in box... What that the wrong
thing to do?

You still didn't describe the ENTIRE process you used to move the PST to the
other machine. How did you get it to the other machine? If you copied it
somewhere, was Outlook closed when you did?

In general archive is NOT how you make a copy of your PST in order to
transport it elsewhere. Archiving doesn't use the received date of an item
as a criterion for deciding whether or not to include an item. It uses the
(usually hidden) modified date. The simplest way to transfer your data to
another machine is to close Outlook (essential!), copy or otherwise transfer
the PST to the other machine, make sure it is not read-only, make sure you
don't overwrite another PST of the same name, and use File>Open>Outlook Data
File to open it. Following that simple procedure virtually guarantees that
your data will transfer intact.

 

[Guest]

Brian, here is what I did - opened outlook, archived everything older than a
day to the archive file. Then (I don't know if I closed outlook during this
or not - but) I took the file and burned into a CD-rom. PC crashed, got it
wiped out and reloaded. With the new PC, I copied the file from the CD to my
desktop. Then I first tried to import it. It imported my contacts, tasks,
schedule, and the inbox file structure, but not the emails. I checked the
..pst file, it is not "read-only". I ran the scanpst.exe, it says found no
rerrors. I try file/open/outlook file - and it keeps bringing me the empty
folders. Last night I realized that under user/localsettings/msft/outlook, I
have 2 other pst files - each 2 gigs - exactly the 4 times the archived
outlook file I have, (and 4 is the number of times I tried to import the
file). So I ran scanpst.exe on those files - and it says "an error has
occured, the program stopped scanning" and it doesn't say anything else.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Brian, here is what I did - opened outlook, archived everything older
than a day to the archive file. Then (I don't know if I closed
outlook during this or not

That could be your problem. If Outlook wasn't closed, there's no guarantee
the file is complete. But still, the archjive function is NOT the way to
make a backup.

- but) I took the file and burned into a
CD-rom. PC crashed, got it wiped out and reloaded. With the new PC,
I copied the file from the CD to my desktop. Then I first tried to
import it. It imported my contacts, tasks, schedule, and the inbox
file structure, but not the emails. I checked the .pst file, it is
not "read-only". I ran the scanpst.exe, it says found no rerrors.
I try file/open/outlook file - and it keeps bringing me the empty
folders. Last night I realized that under
user/localsettings/msft/outlook, I have 2 other pst files - each 2
gigs - exactly the 4 times the archived outlook file I have, (and 4
is the number of times I tried to import the file). So I ran
scanpst.exe on those files - and it says "an error has occured, the
program stopped scanning" and it doesn't say anything else.

Sounds like your email is good and truly lost to you, then. Sorry.