Everyone's nightmare: Losing mail during a reinstall

[Dylan1070]

Does e-mail live anywhere other than in a .pst file?

I'm using Outllook 2007 on an XP SP3 box. Recently I fiddled around with
some settings I shouldn't have and didn't back up immediately prior to doing
so. Worst practice possible -- I know -- and resulted, predictably, in
anguish.

I found myself unable to boot to Windows.

Normally, I make a disk image once a week and that was how old my most
recent back-up was: one week. But I wanted to rescue my most recent e-mail
and files, the ones I'd created or received in the past 7 days.

I used a rescue disk from Acronis back-up program to save everything in my
(now unbootable) Windows drive to an external drive. Then I restored Windows
from a good but week-old disk image so I would have a working OS. My goal,
once I had the OS up and running, was to restore all my files and e-mail
(.pst) from Windows-only image I'd just made.

That worked for my files, but not for my e-mail. When I Imported
Outlook.pst, I didn't get anything more recent than my last "good" disc image
backup, which again was one week old. This is why I asked: Does e-mail live
anywhere other than in a .pst file. Is there a temp area where it germinates
before 'graduating' to full .pst status?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Pat Willener]

E-mail may indeed "live" somewhere else, depending on your account type.
Exchange Server and IMAP accounts keep their messages on the server
until they are archived. POP mail accounts download all messages
immediately to the active PST file. There is no other place where email
resides.

Please clarify what you mean by "imported Outlook.pst". Is that the one
on the external drive? You should not use import (for various reasons),
but open the file with Outlook (File -> Open -> Outlook data file), then
you can see exactly what's in that file. Copy (drag-and-drop) your newer
messages from the backup PST file to your current PST file.

 

[Pat Willener]

Or easier: replace your current PST file with the one saved on the
external drive (while Outlook is closed).

 

[Gordon]

Or easier: replace your current PST file with the one saved on the
external drive (while Outlook is closed).

But NOT by overwriting the existing file AFAIK.....

 

[Dylan1070]

Dear Pat:

Spot on! I moved Outlook.pst, then launched Outlook and, when it asked for
the location of the .pst file, I pointed to the one in back-up and - voila! -
there was the mail I was trying to get. You just saved me *hours* of labor
and uncertainty. Thank you. Interesting that Importing couldn't take care of
this, but there it is....

 

[Pat Willener]

But NOT by overwriting the existing file AFAIK.....

Since it is the same file, just newer, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Gordon]

Since it is the same file, just newer, that shouldn't be a problem.

I've always understood that overwriting the existing file is one of the
factors in Mail Profile corruption.....

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Correct. Overwriting another PST file will not connect it to the Outlook
profile correctly and will corrupt the profile.

 

[Pat Willener]

Even overwriting it with the *same* file?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Why would you overwrite a PST with the same file? If the file has any
properties at all that are different than the one you are overwriting, it
will corrupt the profile. And if you have a file from a different location
that you are using to overwrite, it will have different properties.

 

[Alan]

I've always understood that overwriting the existing file is one of the
factors in Mail Profilecorruption.....

Hi,

You can use Inbox Repair tool which is used to repair corrupted file
of pst. To run Inbox repair tool fallow the steps:

1. Click on start goes to the search then click on files or folders
option.
2. In search box type scanpst.exe.
3. Double click on the scanpst.exe file to open the inbox repair
tool.
4. Then enter the location of Pst file and its name or browse it for
the path.
5. Then start to repair.

This way you can repair your pst file. But if your file is badly
damaged you may not able to repair it. At that time you can use some
software. You can try a tool called Advanced Outlook Repair to repair
your PST file. It is a powerful tool to recover messages, folders and
other objects from corrupt or damaged Microsoft Outlook PST files.
Detailed information about Advanced Outlook Repair can be found at
http://www.datanumen.com/aor/