Outlook files suddenly gone

[Longjohn]

Hello,

I hope someone can help me with this problem.

I've lost all my mail. The file is completely gone.

I work under XP, SP2, which I installed some 14 days ago. No problems.

Last week, after some surfing on the internet, I shut down my
computer. Before that I checked on my mail. There was 1 new e-mail,
which appeared to be junk, so without opening it, I deleted it.
The next day by starting outlook I got the message that the
outlook-file could not be found.
With explorer I searched my computer, but no trace (not with *.pst,
not outlook.*, not with the search for files larger than ...). Also
with three different undelete tools I could not find anything.
There's nothing in my "Quarantain". I keep my virusscanner up to date
and I checked with macafee and Norton via the Internet: no virus. My
firewall (SP 2) is working.

Any ideas what could have happened and what can be done?

John

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Sounds like it's gone indeed then and you'll need to restore from backup.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-What do the Outlook Icons Mean?
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hello,

I hope someone can help me with this problem.

I've lost all my mail. The file is completely gone.

I work under XP, SP2, which I installed some 14 days ago. No problems.

Last week, after some surfing on the internet, I shut down my
computer. Before that I checked on my mail. There was 1 new e-mail,
which appeared to be junk, so without opening it, I deleted it.
The next day by starting outlook I got the message that the
outlook-file could not be found.
With explorer I searched my computer, but no trace (not with *.pst,
not outlook.*, not with the search for files larger than ...).

Did you select the option to include hidden/system folders in your search
parameters? By default, the PST file should be in c:\documents and
settings\yourname\yaddayaddayadda.....

Also
with three different undelete tools I could not find anything.

Then it probably wasn't deleted....

There's nothing in my "Quarantain". I keep my virusscanner up to date
and I checked with macafee and Norton via the Internet: no virus. My
firewall (SP 2) is working.

Any ideas what could have happened and what can be done?

Try a new search as I suggested - if you can't find it then, it's likely
gone. I suggest you get in the habit of making regular backups of all your
data.

Note - I'd redirect My Documents on the desktop to something you set up
yourself, such as c:\data (choose 'move'), and put the PST file in
c:\data\outlook, and name it something like myname.pst so there's no
confusion. When you next open Outlook, and when it complains it can't find
the file, direct it to the myname.pst file.

I don't like using the default profile folders for data storage at all as
you may have problems with them if your profile gets hosed - and knowing you
really only have to back up c:\data to protect the bulk of your data can be
a comfort. Hope this helps in the future...