what happened my old pst files

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:.


"LenH" wrote in message

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?

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

"LenH" wrote in message

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?

<snip>

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

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. :-)
"Chad Harris" wrote:

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

"LenH" wrote in message 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?

Len--
Good news. yw. Should you ever need to, you can always point Outlook's pst folders on one drive or partition to Outlook's pst stores in a *common folder on another partition. This comes up commonly in the wake of Beta testing Vista where people dual boot and have XP's Outlook on one drive and Vista's Outlook on another drive:
Simply go into Outlook on both operating systems and point Outlook to the same .pst file as your default delivery location:
1. In Outlook, click on Tools, E-mail Accounts, then click the Next button 2. Click View or Change, then Next 3. In the Delivery New E-mails section, 4. Click the New Outlook Data File button 5. Click OK, then browse to the shared .pst file. 6. Click Ok, then Finish.
With respect to Outlook Express and Win Mail, which wasn't the subject of your OP, I'm not able to do this kind of thing and hope that someone will come up with a hack that will. One of the obstacles there, is that the .dbx storage format in OE has been changed in Win Mail to .eml /or nws.
CH


"LenH" wrote in message

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. :-)
"Chad Harris" wrote:
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

"LenH" wrote in message 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?