how do I recover old outlook email files after OS reinstall?

[Grumblypeg]

My computer crashed for no known reason. Blue screen of death. After lots of
trouble shooting, took it into a computer shop and they tried everything and
in the end the only solution was to do the disk recovery which wipes the
harddrive, and reinstall Vista and all other Office software.

But I need my old email files. I did back all data files and copy them back
onto the drive, but do not know where to look for old email messages - there
are thousands of important ones. Can you help?

 

[Doug D]

In Windows (2000, XP and Vista) there are hidden folders that hold the
Outlook data. In Vista the folder would be c:\Users\(User
name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook . That's where your Outlook.pst file
would have been stored. Chances are that you did not back up the entire
folder from the C:\ drive but just the "visible" folders that are represented
in the (User Name) folder on the desktop, in which case you have lost your
emails.

If you in fact backed up the entire c:\Users\(User name) folder from the
hard drive, then your mail is there, just hidden.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Grumblypeg asked:

| My computer crashed for no known reason. Blue screen of death. After
| lots of trouble shooting, took it into a computer shop and they tried
| everything and in the end the only solution was to do the disk
| recovery which wipes the harddrive, and reinstall Vista and all other
| Office software.
|
| But I need my old email files. I did back all data files and copy
| them back onto the drive, but do not know where to look for old email
| messages - there are thousands of important ones. Can you help?

 

[Peter Foldes]

Grumblypeg

If you made a back copy of your pst files and put that back on your Hard Drive in a different location and then you had formatted the drive as per you posting.

Afaik they are gone. You needed to have those back ups on an outside media like a CD not on the Hard Drive

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

My computer crashed for no known reason. Blue screen of death. After lots
of
trouble shooting, took it into a computer shop and they tried everything
and
in the end the only solution was to do the disk recovery which wipes the
harddrive, and reinstall Vista and all other Office software.

If the disk drive was "wiped", as you say, then NOTHING you had on that disk
is available any longer.

But I need my old email files. I did back all data files and copy them
back
onto the drive, but do not know where to look for old email messages -
there
are thousands of important ones. Can you help?

How did you back them up and how did you you restore them? What did you
back up before wiping the drive? The most likely place for your mail files
was %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Outlook. If you didn't save the files there,
chances are excellent you've lost them permanently.