Error adding existing personal folders - Outlook 2007

[Steve Vincent]

I had to reformat my computer, and after re-installing Office 2007 again, I
went to add my personal folders back into Outlook, but when I select the .pst
file(s), I get the message "The file C:\ . . . \*.pst is not a personal
folders file."

The files in question actually *are* .pst files -- I was using them in
Outlook 2007 before the reformatting of my hard drive. Any ideas why Outlook
is not recognizing them? It doesn't matter if I choose "Office Outlook
Personal Folders File (.pst)" or "Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File
(.pst)" when I go to add a new Outlook data file; I get the same message each
time.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[Russ Valentine]

No information here.
What steps are you using to "add my personal folders?" You should be
encountering none of the paths you are if you were doing so correctly.
What steps did you use to copy and transfer these PST files to the new hard
drive?

 

[Steve Vincent]

One of our I.T. techs copied all my files from my C: drive off my bad hard
drive, then back onto the reformatted hard drive. I think the only wrinkle
is that our organization uses CREDANT Mobile Guardian Shield for data
encryption for security purposes. As far as I know, the .pst files got
unencrypted successfully after moving them back onto my hard drive.

To add my personal folders back into my re-installed Outlook 2007, I first
tried File, Data File Management, then Add data files, found my .pst files,
attempted to open/add them, and got the error message. I tried both
"versions" of data file adding (Outlook, and Outlook 97-2002), both got the
same errors. Then I tried Import/Export, and attempted to Import the .pst
files through the Import wizard. I got the same error message.

I will check with my I.T. department to see if they can check the individual
files for encryption/de-encryption.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Russ Valentine]

Good information to have. Glad I asked.
Neither method you used to access the PST files is the preferred method. The
most reliable way to access PST files is File > Open > Outlook Data File...
However, from the additional information you have provided, I suspect even
that won't work. If it does not, then I would exhort your IT department to
provide you with a correct and valid copy of your PST file. If they cannot,
perhaps you can show them how. You should also check to see if these files
acquired a read only property in the transfer process. If so, remove it. It
is also worth running the Inbox Repair Tool against these files to see if it
can fix any errors they might have incurred.

 

[Steve Vincent]

Thank you Russ. I just tried the File > Open > Outlook Data File... method,
with the same error. I'm waiting to hear back from I.T. I will look at the
file properties in the meantime.

Thanks again for all your input,

Steve

 

[Russ Valentine]

Sure. Keep us posted on what you find.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

One of our I.T. techs copied all my files from my C: drive off my bad hard
drive, then back onto the reformatted hard drive. I think the only wrinkle
is that our organization uses CREDANT Mobile Guardian Shield for data
encryption for security purposes. As far as I know, the .pst files got
unencrypted successfully after moving them back onto my hard drive.

The process used to copy the PSTs corrupted them and made them unrecognizable
as PSTs. Your only hope now is a commercial PST recovery tool or restoring
them from the most recent backup you made prior to this incident.