Missing email/.pst file

[tjenkins1]

Had to reinstall W2K server after a virus. Created a new domain and
joined the workstations to the new domain. One of the users has a
laptop running XP Pro and gets a ton of email. He had 7 .pst files that
he references his old mail from and every 1.5 to 2 months he "dumps"
his inbox from his default pst to his current year .pst (i.e.
2004.pst). He last performed this "dump" to his 2004 .pst file about 2
months ago, and now, logged on with his new account from the new
domain, I tried to find the .pst on his hard drive that contains this
critical email and cannot find any other files than the ones he was
dumping to. The ones he was dumping to were being stored in a folder on
his c:\ drive in a folder called Outlook (C:\outlook) that he created
for these files. I thought this might be a permissions issue so I tried
these things:

1. added his domain user account to the local admin group
2. took ownership of every folder and file in the entire c: drive using
his account.
3. searched c: again and still no .pst with the missing last 2 months
email.

The user is freaking and NEEDS this email and I'm stumped. Any help
would be greatly appreciated. Just had a thought...is the .pst in its
default folder a hidden file?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Had to reinstall W2K server after a virus. Created a new domain and
joined the workstations to the new domain.

Are you sure he didn't keep his PSTs in a roaming profile? Moving to a new
domain (and hence a new profile) would explain their disappearance.