Sorry but yet another cant open pst file

[news.microsoft.com]

I had a hard drive crash and I was forced to reinstall the whole OS and
Office. Before the crash, backed up my .pst files to a cdRom numerous
times (although as always when you get a hard drive crash, not numerous
enough)

When I reinstalled Outlook I imported an early .pst file from an older
cdRom and got all data from pre-about 2002 into my personal folder, I then
found a later one and when I tried importing its data to the same folders

I got an error message saying that I wasnt an administator and that access
was denied to the file. I then saved it to my desktop and ran SCANPST (just
in case) and tried again after removing the archive tick from properties
which had presumably come from when it came off the CD.

This time I was able to import the file but all it did was put an empty
folder in my list called recovered personal folder with only one empty
deleted items folder. The 390 megabytes of information that was supposed to
be there does not seem to be. SO I tried again both importing it, importing
the backup created by SCANPST (renaming it to pst rather than bak), opening
it and then as a last resort, dragging and dropping it into my folders list

Importing it did the most as it did put me through the import process I had
used uearlier but when I pressed IMPORT to same folders and overwrite at the
end of the process as I had done with the earlier pst file, it did nothing
whatsoever.

Any ideas? The file and backup are both the 290 megabyte files which contain
all I need to import at the moment. And the pst file was one I was using so
I am pretty sure it was OK when it was put on the CD

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You have proven what we post here daily.
Importing and exporting is never the correct way to transfer Outlook data.
Either reuse the PST file as your default or open it and copy the data you
need from it directly.

 

[news.microsoft.com]

Importing and exporting is never the correct way to transfer Outlook data.

Either reuse the PST file as your default or open it and copy the data you
need from it directly.

I didnt think I had done that, I thought I had done what youare suggesting:
I saved a copy o fhte then-current PST file adn then tried to open it after
I found that the import didnt work a second time. Was it the scanpst step
whichscrewed up the file or the save as backup in that step which didnt
work? Is there a special way of opening it, - I tried opening it having
looked at a few of those posts and only then did I post myself when I
THOUGHT that simply opening the file wasnt working? Close outlook and double
click on the file on the CD ROM an dchoose Browse To Outlook.exe somewhere?
As I said, I even dragged it into the folder list in desperation!

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You lost me.
All you do is copy your PST file.
Then use Outlook's File > Open > Outlook Data File command to open it.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I didnt think I had done that, I thought I had done what youare
suggesting: I saved a copy o fhte then-current PST file

How did you save the copy? Was Outlook open or closed when you did? How
did you transfer the PST to the CD? How did you transfer it from the CD to
the other machine?

Was it the scanpst step whichscrewed up the file or the save as
backup in that step which didnt work?

I doubt that SCANPST would have damaged the file.

 

[news.microsoft.com]

All you do is copy your PST file.
Then use Outlook's File > Open > Outlook Data File command to open it.

I am baffled. I put in my original pst that: "SO I tried again both
importing it, importing
the backup created by SCANPST (renaming it to pst rather than bak), opening
it and then as a last resort, dragging and dropping it into my folders list

Importing it did the most as it did put me through the import process I had
used earlier but when I pressed IMPORT to same folders and overwrite at the
end of the process as I had done with the earlier pst file, it did nothing
whatsoever"

What did I do wrong in opening it? I can see how you couldn't open a pst
file from a CD ROM so I copied it to my desktop. Was that my mistake? Does
it have to be in application data-common files etc? And how do I open it if
neither File-Open on both the repaired file as well as the renamed backup
nor dragging and dropping into the folders area in Outlook opens it?

 

[news.microsoft.com]

How did you save the copy? Was Outlook open or closed when you did?

Good point: I cant remember. How do I recover from this situation if Outlook
was open (and the PST file was therefore in use) when I copied the pst file
to the CDROM? Or doesn't it matter?

How did you transfer the PST to the CD?

By going into Sony CD Complete Pro and putting the PST file into the burn
area of the software

How did you transfer it from the CD to the other machine?
By highlighting the pst file on the CDROM in windows explorer, right
clicking and pressing COPY to the MY DOCUMENTS folder or to the desktop.

I just tried it again and it just tells me that the 390 Mb OUTLOOK.PST file
isn't a valid PST file, both with it marked as an archive file in its
properties AND with it marked as a non-archive file.

(This is the way I transferred the working one dated November 2003 onto a
backup CD. To get it back I think I just copied the pst file to my hard
drive and imported it into Outlook. It was only a month or so later that I
saw people here saying that you shouldnt do this that way, but rather that
you should open outlook and open the pst file and drag contents of an old
folder to where I want it and then delete the now-empty pst folder I had
just emptied)

I also tried closing Outlook, right clicking the 390 Mb file and pressing
open with. . . . . and highlighting the outlook.exe file. That resulted in a
huge amount of thrashing about on my hard drive on this not-exactly quick
Vaio (syrupy slow would be more a accurate description) and after about five
minutes suddenly WORD starts and tries to send the (now) 381 megabyte .pst
file as a file attachment.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Good point: I cant remember. How do I recover from this situation if
Outlook was open (and the PST file was therefore in use) when I
copied the pst file to the CDROM?

You don't. If Outlook doesn't recognize your PST as a PST, then unless
there's a commercial program available that can help, you're screwed.

By going into Sony CD Complete Pro and putting the PST file into the
burn area of the software

OK, but never having used that program, I have no confidence in it. (Thats
not to say it's not a fine program, I just don't have any experience with
it.) I prefer the Windows XP drag-to-cd feature.

How did you transfer it from the CD to the other machine?
By highlighting the pst file on the CDROM in windows explorer, right
clicking and pressing COPY to the MY DOCUMENTS folder or to the
desktop.

And then removing the read-only attribute

I just tried it again and it just tells me that the 390 Mb
OUTLOOK.PST file isn't a valid PST file, both with it marked as an
archive file in its properties AND with it marked as a non-archive
file.

The archive attribute is unimportant.

(This is the way I transferred the working one dated November 2003
onto a backup CD. To get it back I think I just copied the pst file
to my hard drive and imported it into Outlook.

Never import a PST unless you like losing data. (Never export to one,
either.) File>Open>Outlook Data File is the best way to make a PST's
contents available.

I also tried closing Outlook, right clicking the 390 Mb file and
pressing open with. . . . . and highlighting the outlook.exe file.

That's not a good way to open a PST either. It doesn't do what you might
expect, since Outlook will attempt to open the PST as a single mail message
attachment.

All in all, my bet is on Outlook having been opened when the initial copy
was performed.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Any damage to the file most likely occurred when you exported it. How did
you do that?
Don't you still have the original PST file?

 

[news.microsoft.com]

The archive attribute is unimportant.
Hang about, that would appear to be my problem, I never realised that you
dont make a read ony file read adn write simply by removing the tick in
ARCHIVE in properties. Although why this problem never surfaced when I did
my first import (by copying the file from CD and then doing a simple import)
is a mystery to me:

How do you prevent it from being seen as read only if highlighting
properties and removing the marker from ARCHIVE doesn't do this?

All in all, my bet is on Outlook having been opened when the initial copy

was performed.

Yes, but that worked perfectly with the first .pst file I opened??

 

[news.microsoft.com]

The whole problem is that the original file is on a hard drive which has
crashed. And I cant find anyone anywhere who can recover the data on it
(especially a probably fragmented 500 megabyte file) except at unrealistic
commercial rates which assume you are a huge corporation with unlimited
resources

"> Don't you still have the original PST file?

 

[Brian Tillman]

The whole problem is that the original file is on a hard drive which
has crashed. And I cant find anyone anywhere who can recover the
data on it (especially a probably fragmented 500 megabyte file)
except at unrealistic commercial rates which assume you are a huge
corporation with unlimited resources

Well, if the data is now worth the price those commercial data recovery
companies charge, then it sounds like you'll need to write it off to
experience and start over.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Hang about, that would appear to be my problem, I never realised that
you dont make a read ony file read adn write simply by removing the
tick in ARCHIVE in properties.

No, you remove the Read-Only attribute. The Archive attribute is a legacy
DOS and OS/2 setting that signifies the file has changed since the last
archival backup that was performed. The Archive attribute gets turned on
whan a file gets changed. Here's an example. I start out with an empty
file "text.txt". Because I just created it, it has the Archive attribute
set. I then clear the attribute and dump some text into the file.
Examining the attributes shows that the Archive attribute is again set.

C:\>attrib text.txt
A C:\text.txt

C:\>attrib -a text.txt

C:\>attrib text.txt
C:\text.txt

C:\>dir >>text.txt

C:\>attrib text.txt
A C:\text.txt

How do you prevent it from being seen as read only if highlighting
properties and removing the marker from ARCHIVE doesn't do this?

A file residing on CD and then compied to the HD will ALWAYS have the
read-only attribute set. You then need to remove that attribute.

Yes, but that worked perfectly with the first .pst file I opened??

Because you were very lucky, perhaps. It's possible for a PST to be in a
self-consistent state such that it can be copied and used even with Outlook
open when you copy it, but there's no way to guarantee that.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Well, if the data is now worth the price

I meant to type "if the data is not worth the price".