Need Help in Restoring Outlook

[Chris Peikert]

On 9/1/2006 I backed up my PST file. On 9/26/06 I deleted a bunch of folder
out of my email and screwed it up so I decided to restore my old PST file
from backup. So I labeled the current pst file to outlook.pst.old and then
restored the PST file from 9/1/2006. When I opened my Outlook back up the
folders are still missing. I checked the data path and its pointing to the
correct PST file. What gives? Where are the restored folders? The PST file
shows its 260MB and when i go through the folders there is no more than 50MB
of information. Where is the other 210MB of stuff?

 

[Brian Tillman]

On 9/1/2006 I backed up my PST file.

Describe exactly how you did this. Also state your version of Outlook.

On 9/26/06 I deleted a bunch of
folder out of my email and screwed it up so I decided to restore my
old PST file from backup. So I labeled the current pst file to
outlook.pst.old and then restored the PST file from 9/1/2006.

State exactly how you did this. Did you simply rename the existing PST and
then give the packup PST the name the existing one had? Oops. Mail profile
corruption ahead.

When I
opened my Outlook back up the folders are still missing. I checked
the data path and its pointing to the correct PST file. What gives?
Where are the restored folders? The PST file shows its 260MB and when
i go through the folders there is no more than 50MB of information.
Where is the other 210MB of stuff?

Try creating a new mail profile now and point it at the PST you wish to use.
See if that makes a difference.
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/newprofile.htm . Of course, some versions
of Outlook (Outlook 98 and 2000 in Internet Mail Only mode) don't allow your
create a new mail profile without messing with the registry, but since you
didn't specify your version of Outlook, no one can know whether that applies
to you or not.

 

[Chris Peikert]

Outlook 2003.

I had about 20 folders in outlook. I was cleaning out my outlook getting rid
of things I thought were trash and deleted too many folders and emptied my
deleted items bin. 15 days later I realized my mistake. So I went to a
backup 30 days old and did a restore but for some reason even when I do a
restore it still shows my current data. I took the current PST file and
renamed it. When I opened up Outlook it couldnt find the data file. So I did
another restore to a different location. I pointed Outlook to that new
location to the restored file from 30 days ago. Guess what...same
information. I am not sure how. I know its 30 days old because I physically
had to retrieve the tape from offsite to do the restore.

 

[Brian Tillman]

So I went to a backup 30 days old and did a restore but for
some reason even when I do a restore it still shows my current data.

Exactly how, as I already asked, did you do this restore?

I took the current PST file and renamed it. When I opened up Outlook
it couldnt find the data file.

Of course it couldn't. You renamed it.

So I did another restore to a
different location. I pointed Outlook to that new location to the
restored file from 30 days ago.

How did you restore? How did you "point Outlook at" the restored PST?

 

[Chris Peikert]

We use Veritas Backup Exec 9.1 with a Dell 132T Autoloader. We use a Monday
through Friday tape and then alternate fridays by putting some in an off
site storage location. What I did was retreived the fridays tape from 9-1-06
and put it in the fridays slot. Told Veritas to catalog that tape which it
did. Under the Restore option you will then see the date 9-1-06 and the data
that was backed up on that tape. I selected the Outlook.pst file that was
mine and told it in the advanced options area to Overwrite any other files
there. Then ran the process. I also tried it again but told the restore
process to put the outlook.pst files in an alternate location. That is how i
restored it.

 

[Brian Tillman]

We use Veritas Backup Exec 9.1 with a Dell 132T Autoloader. We use a
Monday through Friday tape and then alternate fridays by putting some
in an off site storage location. What I did was retreived the fridays
tape from 9-1-06 and put it in the fridays slot. Told Veritas to
catalog that tape which it did. Under the Restore option you will
then see the date 9-1-06 and the data that was backed up on that
tape. I selected the Outlook.pst file that was mine and told it in
the advanced options area to Overwrite any other files there. Then
ran the process. I also tried it again but told the restore process
to put the outlook.pst files in an alternate location. That is how i
restored it.

If Outlook was not closed when the backup was made, there's no guarantee the
PST is valid. We use the same backup program and we see PSTs in the
exception log all the time because we can't get people to close their
Outlooks when they go home. Consequently, their PSTs don't get backed up
properly.

When you restored it, where did you put it and how did you tell Outloopk to
use it?

 

[Chris Peikert]

First time I restored it I overwrote the old PST file. No change. Second
time I used File Redirection and put the PST file in a different location.
Then renamed the current PST file to .old. When I opened Outlook it couldnt
find the PST file anymore and gave me the option to browse to it. I then
showed Outlook where the restored PST file is in the different location.
When it opened up it was the same as the previous one. How I am not sure
since they are almost a month apart.

 

[Brian Tillman]

First time I restored it I overwrote the old PST file. No change.

Overwriting a PST is nearly guaranteed to corrupt your mail profile.

Second time I used File Redirection and put the PST file in a
different location.

I'm uncertain what FIle Redirection is in this case (I think Vista has a
file redirection capability, but the only other one I know is a command line
file redirection),

Then renamed the current PST file to .old.

Renaming a PST that is in an OUtlook mail profile is a recipe for corruption
of te profile.

When I
opened Outlook it couldnt find the PST file anymore and gave me the
option to browse to it. I then showed Outlook where the restored PST
file is in the different location. When it opened up it was the same
as the previous one. How I am not sure since they are almost a month
apart.

I suspect, then, that Outlook was open when the backup was made and the
backup was incomplete. Outlook takes excalusive access out on the PST and
backup programs are rarely able to backup open files.