Ray,
If you only want the address book, that will work. However, if you are going
to wipe the drive or replace it, copy the .pst file to the external drive.
It contains everything regarding MS Outlook, not just the Address Book
(Contacts). When moving it back to your drive, place it in a new folder
under My Documents (for easy backup). Then open Outlook and Choose File>
Open> Outlook Data file. Browse to the pst in the new folder.