Well. That was not fun. The upgrade of my working computer from Windows 7 RC1 to Windows 7 did not go smoothly. While all of the main data files have been imported and backed up safely there has been an issue with my email.

Now, what I’m guessing has happened is that when I created a final backup of my main email files (these are .pst files in Outlook) the central file was corrupted. When we tried to import it into Outlook on the new build of the new computer Outlook would not recognise the file. It insisted it was invalid.

After a little research I ran a repair tool over the mailbox and this morning Outlook opened it. All of the folder structure is lost. Now if this were any other email record that would be annoying but not appalling, but losing all folder structure on a little over 29,000 email messages covering a ten year period is a little like someone walking into an organised office and unleashing a whirlwind.

I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to proceed from here. I have quite a number of book projects on the go, and my taxes need to be confronted shortly (as always, I’m late with this – these are my 2008/2009 taxes). I’m tempted to simply take all of the emails out of the ‘recovered folders’, put them in a single folder called ‘old email’ and move on. If I do that, though, I’m going to need to seriously consider how I want to move forward on email organisation.

In the meantime, my apologies for any delays in responding to things or delays in getting things organised. I’m sorting out my information as fast as I can. I should add this mostly affects accessing old record. I may have to ask some people for new copies of recent attached files, but that’s about all.