outlook.pst

[jroettle]

Hi there,
I have big problems with my old outlook.pst file.
I had to send my laptop in to get a new mainboard and so
I burned my outlook.pst file on a CD for later use. After
I got my laptop back I copied it to the hard drive,
unmarked the read only and tried to open or import it. At
both actions Outlook told me that it is not a Microsoft
Data File.
I ran the scanpst.exe and it repaired the file, but found
only two folders with no items in it. When I import or
open the repaired file I only see the Recovered Folder
with the Deleted Items as a sub folder. If I import these
folders no single e-mail gets imported. The original
outlook.pst file is around 480MB and the repaired one
475MB. So that means there has to be lots of information
in it, but I can't open or import it.
Has anybody a suggestion what software I could use for
repairing or any tip what should I do? I already tried a
few softwares like "Search and Recover" and some others
but without success.

I would appreciate your comments.

Regards

Joe

 

[jroettle]

Sorry I forgot to tell I use Windows XP and Outlook 2002
SP-1.

Joe

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have big problems with my old outlook.pst file.
I had to send my laptop in to get a new mainboard and so
I burned my outlook.pst file on a CD for later use. After
I got my laptop back I copied it to the hard drive,
unmarked the read only and tried to open or import it. At
both actions Outlook told me that it is not a Microsoft
Data File.

Sounds like something went wrong when you created the PST. How did you burn
it to the CD? Was Outlook open or closed at the time?

I ran the scanpst.exe and it repaired the file, but found
only two folders with no items in it. When I import or
open the repaired file I only see the Recovered Folder
with the Deleted Items as a sub folder. If I import these
folders no single e-mail gets imported. The original
outlook.pst file is around 480MB and the repaired one
475MB. So that means there has to be lots of information
in it, but I can't open or import it.

Look at this:
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/restoredeleteditemsfromanoutlookpst.htm
The method outlined there may work or it may not. There are commercially
available products that may work as well, but I don't have any handy links
to their vendors. Google might find them.

 

[jroettle]

Hi Brian,

thanks for your tips.
I opened the pst file with Ultraedit and got only "00"'s.
I think I stored a 480MB file without any information.
I am not sure whther Outlook was running while I burned
the pst, but maybe that is was the problem.

If you have any further suggestions I would appreciate
them, but I think the file is lost.

Regards

Joe

 

[Brian Tillman]

If you have any further suggestions I would appreciate
them, but I think the file is lost.

I think you're correct.