Outlook recovery

I've had two computer crashes this past month, and of course recovering my Outlook mail was an important part of the recovery, but, I couldn't find a straightforward way to accomplish this for a while.

For my second crash, I googled... and I found quite a few pieces of software ($$) which recover damaged outlook files, which wasn't my case --my files were OK, but in a faulty disk. So having this in mind, next, I'll give step by step instructions to locate and upload your old Outlook files into your new installation.

First, on your Outlook menu (File --> Data File Management --> Settings) find and copy the paths to your old outlook data files (.pst), which should be similar to these paths:

E:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst

E:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst

So now we know where our (hidden) data files are located (in my old E hard disk).

Next, import your files into Outlook:

File --> Import & Export --> Import from another program or file --> Personal Folder (.pst) -->Allow duplicates to be created (warning! you don't want any of your good files to be overwritten), and paste the path you brought from the previous step.

Finally, hit finish and let Outlook do its magic. Be patient, it'll take a while.