Restoring pst files after Vista crash

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian
  • Start date Start date
B

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" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D11B30E4-5148-44C2-8D82-6C2D1DECA627@microsoft.com...
>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.

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.

"Gordon" wrote:

> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:D11B30E4-5148-44C2-8D82-6C2D1DECA627@microsoft.com...
> >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.
>
> I don't know what you mean by "restore drive" and how did Vista "back it
> up"?
>
>
 
"Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5D8DD68E-C1CC-44E0-9035-2FBDB725A99C@microsoft.com...
>I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on an X
> drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
>

Is the "X" drive a separate physical disk, or is it a partition of the one
HDD?
 
Is it possible to import the pst files into some other mail program,
Like Mozilla Thunderbird or something, and from there export it to
outlook (in the case of thunderbird, the exporting bit might be a bit
tricky though).
I had a similar problem where the pst file had somehow gone
"corrupted", but it could be imported into thunderbird strangely enough.


--
Danneman
 
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.

"Gordon" wrote:

> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:5D8DD68E-C1CC-44E0-9035-2FBDB725A99C@microsoft.com...
> >I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on an X
> > drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
> >
>
> Is the "X" drive a separate physical disk, or is it a partition of the one
> HDD?
>
>
 
"Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:117CC243-1DA3-449D-A35D-F71B97B191E6@microsoft.com...
> 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.
>

So how did you manage to extract the backed-up files "using DOS"?
 
Do these backup files actually have a .pst suffix or something else?

"Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:117CC243-1DA3-449D-A35D-F71B97B191E6@microsoft.com...
> 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.
>
> "Gordon" wrote:
>
>> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:5D8DD68E-C1CC-44E0-9035-2FBDB725A99C@microsoft.com...
>> >I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on an X
>> > drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
>> >
>>
>> Is the "X" drive a separate physical disk, or is it a partition of the
>> one
>> HDD?
>>
>>
 
They do have the .pst suffix.

"DL" wrote:

> Do these backup files actually have a .pst suffix or something else?
>
> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:117CC243-1DA3-449D-A35D-F71B97B191E6@microsoft.com...
> > 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.
> >
> > "Gordon" wrote:
> >
> >> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:5D8DD68E-C1CC-44E0-9035-2FBDB725A99C@microsoft.com...
> >> >I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on an X
> >> > drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Is the "X" drive a separate physical disk, or is it a partition of the
> >> one
> >> HDD?
> >>
> >>
>
>
>
 
I put in the recovery disk, went into DOS, found the backup zip files and
copied them to my USB drive.

"Gordon" wrote:

> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:117CC243-1DA3-449D-A35D-F71B97B191E6@microsoft.com...
> > 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.
> >
>
> So how did you manage to extract the backed-up files "using DOS"?
>
>
 
"Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:267C0417-4DA5-4E87-9E78-3050CFBD82D0@microsoft.com...
>I put in the recovery disk, went into DOS, found the backup zip files and
> copied them to my USB drive.
>

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."

"Gordon" wrote:

> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:267C0417-4DA5-4E87-9E78-3050CFBD82D0@microsoft.com...
> >I put in the recovery disk, went into DOS, found the backup zip files and
> > copied them to my USB drive.
> >
>
> 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.........
>
>
 
"Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:85BC8230-DF3B-47E0-8665-D27F2284A0DA@microsoft.com...
> 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."
>

Is the Read-Only attribute in force?
 
No, it's not

"Gordon" wrote:

> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:85BC8230-DF3B-47E0-8665-D27F2284A0DA@microsoft.com...
> > 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."
> >
>
> 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

"Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:102246B4-4652-4DA4-9D14-F21D6D555C60@microsoft.com...
> They do have the .pst suffix.
>
> "DL" wrote:
>
>> Do these backup files actually have a .pst suffix or something else?
>>
>> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:117CC243-1DA3-449D-A35D-F71B97B191E6@microsoft.com...
>> > 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.
>> >
>> > "Gordon" wrote:
>> >
>> >> "Brian" <Brian@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:5D8DD68E-C1CC-44E0-9035-2FBDB725A99C@microsoft.com...
>> >> >I set Vista to backup my system weekly. It put the backup files on
>> >> >an X
>> >> > drive while Vista remained on the C drive.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> Is the "X" drive a separate physical disk, or is it a partition of the
>> >> one
>> >> HDD?
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>
 
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