HELP! Cannot locate .pst file

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tricia Henwood
  • Start date Start date
T

Tricia Henwood

I am running Outlook 2000 on Windows 2000 o/s. When I opened Outlook this
morning I received a message saying that it was 'preparing to install
Outlook' - I cancelled out of the dialog box. I then discovered to my
horror a 'virgin' Outlook, even though I have been using it on a daily basis
since 2001! After a lot of (ever more desperate) searching I discovered
that my User Profile has been removed/deleted from the computer. I am
supposed to be the only person who uses the computer.

I searched the hard drive for any .pst files in an attempt to locate my
Outlook data, but there is none. I should add that everything has
disappeared - My Documents is empty too.

I always backup My Documents on a weekly basis so that isn't too dramatic,
however, I am terrified to think that all my Contact details and emails have
disappeared into the ether.

Before I attempt to contact a firm that specialises in recovering data,
could someone who knows the ramifications of deleting a User Profile from
the system put me out of my misery and let me know whether the data has been
permanently deleted and any attempt to recover it futile.

PS I looked for a Windows 2000 newsgroup to post this query to but couldn't
locate one - is it just not on my ISP?
 
Tricia,
I cannot say that I ever heard of what happened to you, perhaps you should
do some good antivirus checking ? Did you just install a new update to
Windows or Outlook ?

The Windows 2000 group is also very active and is on this same server, but
not the easiest to find especially if you are searching under "Windows" the
group name for the main one follows: (there are alot of them)

microsoft.public.win2000.general

Tedd

Tedd Riggs
PDA Square Content Developer
www.pdasquare.com
 
Turn on searching hidden and system files in Windows Search. Then look for
your .pst file.

Next, put a password on your computer so no one can come in and remove
profiles, files, etc. willy-nilly!!!


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the SWEN virus, all mail sent to my personal account will be deleted
without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Tricia Henwood
asked:

| I am running Outlook 2000 on Windows 2000 o/s. When I opened Outlook
| this morning I received a message saying that it was 'preparing to
| install Outlook' - I cancelled out of the dialog box. I then
| discovered to my horror a 'virgin' Outlook, even though I have been
| using it on a daily basis since 2001! After a lot of (ever more
| desperate) searching I discovered that my User Profile has been
| removed/deleted from the computer. I am supposed to be the only
| person who uses the computer.
|
| I searched the hard drive for any .pst files in an attempt to locate
| my Outlook data, but there is none. I should add that everything has
| disappeared - My Documents is empty too.
|
| I always backup My Documents on a weekly basis so that isn't too
| dramatic, however, I am terrified to think that all my Contact
| details and emails have disappeared into the ether.
|
| Before I attempt to contact a firm that specialises in recovering
| data, could someone who knows the ramifications of deleting a User
| Profile from the system put me out of my misery and let me know
| whether the data has been permanently deleted and any attempt to
| recover it futile.
|
| PS I looked for a Windows 2000 newsgroup to post this query to but
| couldn't locate one - is it just not on my ISP?
 
Before you do anything else, see if it's in the trashcan (deleted
folders). If you have Norton Utilities, use it to look for a deleted
file. It's critical that you do this ASAP, since each passing minute
decreases your chances of recovering an erased file.

It is very difficult to imagine that the situation that you describe did
not occur because someone actually DID SOMETHING to your PC -- e.g. that
someone else actually was on your system.

I always arrange to have my E-Mail in "My
Documents\E-Mail\whatever.pst". This is not the default location, so
you have to manually force it. My E-Mail folder is MORE important than
everything else in "My Documents", including all of my Word files. Why
MS doesn't make this the default is beyond me. But wherever it is, as
you have discovered, it is absolutely critical that your backup scheme
encompasses your E-Mail, wherever and in whatever form it is stored.
 
Many thanks to Ted, Milly and Barry for your responses.

I had searched for hidden and system files when I tried to locate the .pst
file. There are two, one for Administrator and one for me, but each is less
than 100Kb in size and is not what I lost!

Barry, I checked the Recycle Bin but that, too, is empty. However, in
future I will follow your suggestion as to saving my email in another
location.

You're right in thinking that it didn't just happen. Someone actually
deleted/removed (I'm not sure what the dialog box says) my User Profile from
the User Profile tab that comes up when you right click My Computer and then
click on Properties....!

I think I have to accept that I cannot retrieve anything....makes me feel
like cutting my throat, but thanks anyway.
 
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