Email folders backup screwup

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Guest

My computer crashed - had to replace hard drive. I thought I had backup of
all my pst files on my external hard drive. But when I just imported them,
only one folder showed up. Only thing I can figure is I set up the backup
instructions wrong and had only been copying that one folder instead of all
the personal folders. Now I can't figure out how to stop this from happening
again. How do I make sure I'm making backup of ALL my personal folders?

I assume that since none of my contacts, calender, sent items, drafts, etc.
imported over that those were never saved and I am entitled to a heart
attack?

Since I thought I knew what I was doing before, I REALLY would appreciate
instructions on backing up all this stuff from now on in case this ever
happens again.

Any help, advice, sympathy, greatly appreciated.

Malia
 
You should *not* import PST files; just open it with Outlook, or restore
it to the original location, then open it.

Making backups is important; the way you do it isn't. You can use
drag-and-drop, Windows Backup, the Microsoft PST file backup tool,
WinZip, or any commercial backup tool.

-> Make sure that Outlook is closed when making backups!
 
Oh, y'all - I am more confused than ever. Seems my brain fried at the same
time my hard drive did. I thought I was doing it right from the instructions
given from the restoring link above, but I reported the results.

I have no idea how to "open it with Outlook or restore it to the original
location..." The 3 backups that I do have were saved on an external hard
drive and when I try to open them, it gives me a big Caution message that
says could damage my system. Obviously, I'm scared to death to do any more
damage than has already been done.

If you could take pity on a traumatized half-brain dead, sleep deprived
woman here and give me detailed instructions on how I can get these backups
from my external hard drive into Outlook, I would be eternally grateful. I
really thought I had been doing the backups right, but maybe not. I also
thought the .pst backup contained not only email messages but contacts,
calender, favorites, sent items, etc. Again, so confused....

Malia
 
Start by opening your .PST file this way:

* Open Outlook
* Click the File menu, then Open, then Outlook Data File
* Browse to your .PST file. If you can't find it, look inside hidden
Windows folders. If it won't open, make sure the file is not marked
read-only.

Once the file is open, it will appear in your Folder List. You can see if
your data is there.

When you have all that down pat, I really suggest you re-read the
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm article to learn how
to properly back up your .PST files. If you have specific questions based on
the article, go ahead and post them here. Let us know if you get your .PST
files to open in Outlook, at least.
 
Thanks so much for this, Jocelyn.

I was able to follow your instructions below, but it resulted in getting
only the same data I got before by using the import option. Apparently what
I did wrong was set up two personal folders - one with the main stuff and
another entitled "RV Friends." The only one that got backed up was the one I
really didn't care about.

What I don't understand is there were 4 different backups done at different
times. When I opened all of them, 1 had the main personal folders (but too
old to be of much use) and the other 3 had that same RV Friends folder from
the different times I backed it up. I really don't understand how I got
different results when the process used to back up was the same. I
downloaded that Outlook tool for this use.

I have more questions if it's OK to post them here:

1. How do I configure that backup utility for times to backup? Whenever I
used to close Outlook, I got that message about option to backup, but now I
don't and don't know how to access it to customize.

2. From that link you sent, it looks like the pst files contain only the
inbox, calendar and contacts. When the contacts came up from the 1 backup
that had my inbox, etc., none of my distribution lists showed up, only
individual contacts. Is there a different procedure for backing up those
kinds of lists?

3. My calendar didn't transfer over from any of the backups and I thought
that was part of pst files.

4. How do I backup sent items? None of these showed up either.

Thank you so much for helping me through this battle.

Malia
 
Thanks so much for this, Jocelyn.

I was able to follow your instructions below, but it resulted in getting
only the same data I got before by using the import option. Apparently what
I did wrong was set up two personal folders - one with the main stuff and
another entitled "RV Friends." The only one that got backed up was the one I
really didn't care about.

What I don't understand is there were 4 different backups done at different
times. When I opened all of them, 1 had the main personal folders (but too
old to be of much use) and the other 3 had that same RV Friends folder from
the different times I backed it up. I really don't understand how I got
different results when the process used to back up was the same. I
downloaded that Outlook tool for this use.

I have more questions if it's OK to post them here:

1. How do I configure that backup utility for times to backup? Whenever I
used to close Outlook, I got that message about option to backup, but now I
don't and don't know how to access it to customize.

2. From that link you sent, it looks like the pst files contain only the
inbox, calendar and contacts. When the contacts came up from the 1 backup
that had my inbox, etc., none of my distribution lists showed up, only
individual contacts. Is there a different procedure for backing up those
kinds of lists?

3. My calendar didn't transfer over from any of the backups and I thought
that was part of pst files.

4. How do I backup sent items? None of these showed up either.

Thank you so much for helping me through this battle.

Malia
 
It may depend on how the backups were done. There are so many ways a file
can get missed by a backup program or operation, or how one can become
corrupted.

..PST files contain all your data. You should not be missing any
distribution lists, sent items, calendar items, or any other data of that
kind. I'm sorry to say that it sounds like your original, complete .PST file
was either not backed up at all or it was backed up improperly. Even if you
imported from it, only the imported data would have been messed up -- the
original file should have been fine. So I don't think your original file was
corrupted that way.

See if you can disable and remove the Outlook Backup Addin from Outlook and
then reinstall it. I don't think you've mentioned your Outlook version
(sorry if I missed it), so go to the Help file and look for instructions on
how to remove add-ins. When you reinstall it, there should be a "Backup"
item on your Outlook File menu. That's where you would click to set your
backup intervals, and other options.
 
Hi Jocelyn,

I'm using Outlook 2003 SP3. I guess I'll never know what happened or how I
screwed it up. But I just did a test - I did a backup using the add-in and
put it on my external hard drive. I opened it using the instructions here on
another computer that had no Outlook data. It seems to all be there, all
email, contacts, lists, etc. So at least I think I understand what to do now
to backup and retrieve data properly.

I really think what happened is that I had set up a totally separate
personal folder with just email from a group of RV friends. When I set up
backup options, apparently I designated just that one folder instead of the
main one. But now I have Outlook set up with just one personal folder and
subfolders for everything within that. Hopefully that will keep this
nightmare from happening again.

It wouldn't have been as big a deal except that I do virtual assistant work
for 3 clients and one had sent me hundreds of emails with work to be done on
projects I'm working on for her. It killed me to have to tell her she'd have
to resend it all and it will cost me many billable hours recreating and
organizing it.

So let this be a lesson for all reading this - not only do regular backups,
but make SURE your backups work before you have a crash!

Thanks for all the help here - I really appreciate it.

Malia
 
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