Trying to Restore Folders

[Guest]

With Outlook 2003, I am trying to restore data after a hard drive failure. I
had a back-up of my outlook.pst and archive.pst files. I was able to restore
my inbox, but lost the last six months of sent items, along with all the
additional folders I had set up to organize my e-mail.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something incorrectly in re-storing... or maybe
these sent items and folders were never saved in the first place. Any way
that I can trouble shoot this? Thanks very much. Russ

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

How did you "restore" these files and do you know what each contained?
Looks to me as if you have only restored your Archive PST file but not your
current PST file. All messages and folders will reside in a PST file and
nowhere else.

 

[Guest]

I was under the impression that the files contained my entire prior Outlook
items, but since I have never dealt with this problem before, I might not
have been setting my back-up correctly. I restored both files through
importing, but I also tried opening each and got the same results either way.
My inbox was restored completely, but I lost the sub folders I had created.

Wouldn't the sub-folders be saved automatically in the archive.pst file?
What is the best way to see the full contents of the outlook.pst and
archive.pst file? Thanks for any help you can provide. Russ

How did you "restore" these files and do you know what each contained?
Looks to me as if you have only restored your Archive PST file but not your
current PST file. All messages and folders will reside in a PST file and
nowhere else.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

With Outlook 2003, I am trying to restore data after a hard drive failure.
I
had a back-up of my outlook.pst and archive.pst files. I was able to
restore
my inbox, but lost the last six months of sent items, along with all the
additional folders I had set up to organize my e-mail.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something incorrectly in re-storing... or maybe
these sent items and folders were never saved in the first place. Any way
that I can trouble shoot this? Thanks very much. Russ

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

If you had the right file, it would contain all of your information. Not
sure what you mean by "not setting your backup correctly." There is nothing
to set. You simply make a copy of PST file you were last using, then open
that file in Outlook. You never export or import an Outlook data file.
The archive.pst file will only contain what you set it to. Archiving is in
no way the same as backing up.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I was under the impression that the files contained my entire prior Outlook
items, but since I have never dealt with this problem before, I might not
have been setting my back-up correctly. I restored both files through
importing, but I also tried opening each and got the same results either
way.
My inbox was restored completely, but I lost the sub folders I had
created.

Wouldn't the sub-folders be saved automatically in the archive.pst file?
What is the best way to see the full contents of the outlook.pst and
archive.pst file? Thanks for any help you can provide. Russ

How did you "restore" these files and do you know what each contained?
Looks to me as if you have only restored your Archive PST file but not
your
current PST file. All messages and folders will reside in a PST file and
nowhere else.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

With Outlook 2003, I am trying to restore data after a hard drive
failure.
I
had a back-up of my outlook.pst and archive.pst files. I was able to
restore
my inbox, but lost the last six months of sent items, along with all
the
additional folders I had set up to organize my e-mail.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something incorrectly in re-storing... or
maybe
these sent items and folders were never saved in the first place. Any
way
that I can trouble shoot this? Thanks very much. Russ

 

[Guest]

However, OL's "archiving" feature could account for apparent loss of items
older than a certain date from your main Outlook.pst file. Depending on your
archive settings, older items are moved to the archive file. Try searching
for another file called Archive.pst. That's the default name for an archive
file. Might you have more than one, or perhaps stored it in another location?

If you set up a new OL installation, you might have corrupted your OL
profile. The OL community board has instructions for re-creating a profile.
Also, did you define email other accounts that save your items to a folder
other than your default Personal Folders? That might be what masks your
sub-files.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what else to suggest. Wish I could help more. I
personally find that storing and restoring OL data files and settings files
is confusing at best, and downright nightmarish as you begin to lose data.

You could try getting 3rd-party software that claims to help recover email
files & see what that comes up with...

Good luck,

Dave

 

[Guest]

Thanks, appreciate the insights. I did create one extra e-mail account on my
last hard drive, but have not set that up yet on this one. Could that cause
a problem with sub folders? I searched my entire back-up for all pst files,
but only came up with the two I restored. I'm about to give up on this, just
surprised that Outlook is so confusing in this regard.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not likely. You apparently failed to backup your file properly. Do you not
have a recent backup of your data?

 

[Guest]

I am restoring from my most recent back-up of the Outlook files. I must have
not been backing up my sub-folders properly, I guess I thought outlook
handled all of this more automatically.

Not likely. You apparently failed to backup your file properly. Do you not
have a recent backup of your data?
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks, appreciate the insights. I did create one extra e-mail account on
my
last hard drive, but have not set that up yet on this one. Could that
cause
a problem with sub folders? I searched my entire back-up for all pst
files,
but only came up with the two I restored. I'm about to give up on this,
just
surprised that Outlook is so confusing in this regard.

 

[Guest]

Before you do too much writing to your hard disk, I suggest thaat you find a
3rd-party utility that will search for errant emails and items. Not sure
what to recommend, but there are several out in Google-land.
Good Luck,
Dave