Problem restoring backup emails, contacts, calendars

[Greg B.]

I recently had to send my laptop in for service, so I backed up all of my
emails, calendar, contacts, etc. to a .pst before sending. I also deleted all
the same from Outlook before sending.

Now that I have my computer back, I want to restore all of the above data. I
use File/Open/Outlook Data File. Outlook imports the file, but then erases
everything in the file. The file started out at a total of 143,872 KB. But
after importing, the file is down to 256 KB. Same thing happens everytime
that I try to reimport.

I'm using Office Professional 2003 (Outlook 2003). I've also performed a
complete uninstall and reinstall of Office 2003.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

That's not possible;
File-> Open-> Outlook Data File... opens the file directly; there is no
import process then.

What exactly are you doing and where are you looking?

 

[Greg B.]

I've moved the file into the folder where Outlook stores it's regular files
and tried it. I've also tried it from the external storage hard drive where I
archived it. Same results both times.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I recently had to send my laptop in for service, so I backed up all of my
emails, calendar, contacts, etc. to a .pst before sending. I also deleted
all
the same from Outlook before sending.

How did you perform the "backup"?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

No, you are mixing things here;
You are either;
importing the pst-file via File-> Import and Export
or
connecting to it via File-> Open-> Outlook Data File...

In case of the last, you are directly looking at the contents of the
pst-file. If there is nothing there; you backed up an empty file.

The actual size of the pst-file doesn't say anything about its contents.
This could all be white space; deleted content. As it is a database file,
the file won't be directly truncated when you delete something from it.

By the looks of it, you have backed up and reconnected an empty pst-file.
The fact that it is so big is because Outlook hadn't got around to truncate
it yet after you've deleted everything.

If this is your only backup, you can try to use a 3rd party recovery tool to
see what is still readable in the "white space". Mind that these tools
really don't come cheap. I've had excellent results with the tool from
DataNumen;
http://addins.howto-outlook.com/datanumen_outlookrepair

If you decide to order use DNC-APME-HT to get a discount.

 

[Greg B.]

Brian, I used the "Import and Export Wizard" in Outlook.

 

[Greg B.]

Well, it looks like it's all gone. Nothing I can do about it except
reconstruct. Maybe it's time to look at Thunderbird.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Maybe it's time to look at Thunderbird.
May I ask how you would see this as a solution?

If you don't create a proper backup, you won't be able to restore either.
That is the same for any application.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Brian, I used the "Import and Export Wizard" in Outlook.

That does not create a proper backup. It's simple to make a backup in
Outlook: close outlook and copy the PST. All done. Export and import
always loses data.

 

[Greg B.]

Brian, I've tried both approaches, they each seem fraught with roadblocks.

Anyway, I found a slightly older .pst than the one I mentioned above and
managed to restore most of my emails, calendars and contacts. It also didn't
hurt to have contacts on my iPod Touch, which I was able to synchronize.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

they each seem fraught with roadblocks
How would copying a file, in order to create a backup, be a roadblock to
you?