Restoring pst files after Vista crash

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian
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Brian

I had to re-install Vista after a system crash. I was able to access the
restore drive via DOS and pull out the pst (Office 2003) files and copy them
to a USB drive. I only had 1 pst file on my system but Vista backed it up to
7 different files. Now when I try to add these files to the restored system
I get an error saying the file is not a a personal folders file. I used
SCANPST on the largest backed up file and it recovered some of my email but
when I try to use SCANPST on the other 6 backup files it says the files are
not personal folders files. I could really use some help in finding a way to
get all 7 pst files recovered so I can put them back together and minimize my
data loss. Thanks...
 
Brian said:
I had to re-install Vista after a system crash. I was able to access the
restore drive via DOS and pull out the pst (Office 2003) files and copy
them
to a USB drive. I only had 1 pst file on my system but Vista backed it up
to
7 different files.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean by "restore drive" and how did Vista "back it
up"?
 
I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on an X
drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
 
Brian said:
I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on an X
drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
Click to expand...

Is the "X" drive a separate physical disk, or is it a partition of the one
HDD?
 
It's a 15 gig partition. However, once I reinstalled Vista it completely
reformatted the harddrive, partition and all. When I reinstalled Vista it
automatically created another 15 gig partition where my new backups are being
placed.
 
Brian said:
It's a 15 gig partition. However, once I reinstalled Vista it completely
reformatted the harddrive, partition and all. When I reinstalled Vista it
automatically created another 15 gig partition where my new backups are
being
placed.
Click to expand...

So how did you manage to extract the backed-up files "using DOS"?
 
I put in the recovery disk, went into DOS, found the backup zip files and
copied them to my USB drive.
 
Brian said:
I put in the recovery disk, went into DOS, found the backup zip files and
copied them to my USB drive.
Click to expand...

Interesting - I've never seen a "recovery" disk with that sort of
functionality.....

However, as from your other reply the files have a pst extension, just copy
them to your HDD, (don't overwrite any existing files) and in outlook do
File-Open-Outlook Data File and navigate to where you copied them to....

For future info, get a Live Linux CD (there are plenty about - Kubuntu is
the nearest "Windows" equivalent) then if your Vista fails to boot, boot
from that and you will be able to rescue ALL your data onto either a memory
stick or a CDR/DVDR.........
 
When I try the File-Open-Outlook data and find my PST file I get the
following error: "The file c:\....\Outlook.pst is not a personal folders
file."
 
Brian said:
When I try the File-Open-Outlook data and find my PST file I get the
following error: "The file c:\....\Outlook.pst is not a personal folders
file."
Click to expand...

Is the Read-Only attribute in force?
 
I find it a little odd that your backup has created number of pst files. Its
not how I understood Vista backup to function, unless Vista back splits a
backup of large files into chunks. If that is the case you would have to
restore the backup files with Vista backup, which would I assume
reconstitute it to a single data file.
Much the same process of restoring a file created with winzip that has been
split into chunks
 
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