What happened to my old pst files?

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Guest

I did a clean install of Vista onto my C: drive (from within XP). I also have
a second partition that had XP on it. Because I had some files on the second
drive that I wanted to see from the C: drive, I made this second drive
visible to the c: drive. When I did the clean install, I understood that old
program files would be not work with Vista and I was not surprised that my
pst files from the C: seem to have disappeared. However, I was very
surprised to find out that Vista apparently did some things to my second
partition. Now, I cannot find my old .pst files on either partition. Any
idea where they went?
 
The clean install did wipe that C: drive completely clean. There's nothing
there now that was there before. But it didn't touch your D: drive. The pst
files are exactly where you left them on that drive.

If you're trying to find them from a search in Vista, they may not be
showing up because they're an unknown file type to Vista. If you can still
get to your old operating system you'll find them when you log into that. Or
you can find them by navigating to whatever folder you left them in from
Vista. Even though an indexed search wouldn't find them, navigating to that
folder directly will.

There are other ways to get to them. Those are just some suggestions. But
they definitely didn't go anywhere. They're still right where you left them
on D:.
 
In XP/Vista they are hidden system files:

Check "Show hidden files" checkbox and "don't hide Windows files" at control
folders in run box>View.

Have you looked here in Vista:

Go to Outlook's "File" menu and select "Open" then "Outlook Data File".

In XP:

D:\Documents and Settings\LenH's Profile\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook

should be the location, and it might be the location on your Vista drive.

CH
 
I was not surprised that my
pst files from the C: seem to have disappeared.
Click to expand...

Hello,

Unless you formatted drive C: from the advanced menu when you did a clean
install, your old files on drive c: are still there. Windows Vista moves any
old windows folders (such as Documents and Settings, Windows, etc) to a
hidden folder called Windows.old.

The Vista installer does not delete anything, unless you tell it to format
the partition.

- JB
 
Thanks so much for your help. It was the Hidden files that got me - I must
have cahnged that option in XP 5 years ago and obviously didn't think twice
about it when I installed Vista. A simple check box and my files are right
where I left them. :-)
 
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