Just recently I had to uninstall and reinstall my operating system due to a virus. Because of that, every program had to be uninstalled/reinstalled. When I reinstalled Outlook, i had lost all of my emails, contacts, etc. I then remembered that Outlook automatically backs up its files. When I went to File->Import/Export and tried to import the file, i recieved an error message (it turns out later i had misread and selected the wrong option). I then decided to try to select the back-up file and use the 'Open With...' feature and open it with Outlook. It popped a message up on the screen saying something to the effect that the files contained incorrect refrences and that Outlook would fix that. I clicked OK and a few seconds later, the file size went from 500,000KB to 23KB! I've already tried a system restore but to no avail. Can anyone help me?

Outlook does not automatically back itself up...Where were you trying to restore the file from? You can't really "uninstall" an operating system. Did you format your drive when you reinstalled or did you just install over your original load? You say the 500MB file dropped to 23K. Did you notice the file size in Explorer? Perhaps you can provide a little more detail ... version of Outlook, data file location...etc.

Oops. I see you're running 2002... The rest of my post still stands. :)

Sorry, I used the wrong phrase. It didn't back up it self, it was one of those Auto-Archives. I was restoring the file from C:\Documents and Settings\(my user name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. I think it was called outlook.pst. I did not install over my operating system. I booted the computer with the WinXP disk, it removed XP and then reinstalled it. And yes, I was in Explorer when this occured so I did see the file size drop. Thank you for your help.

What is the location of the pst file that Outlook is using? Are there any other pst files on the machine?