Lost Outlook 2010 account settings, email and contacts?

I added a new account to Outlook 2010 on my laptop with my existing email account. On my laptop I used the same email settings on my desktop with Outlook 2010. Both were getting sending and receiving the same emails. I didn’t think this was possible but it worked.

I tried a “save as” with my desktop contacts “trying” to add my contacts to my laptop faster. Other than that I didn’t change any settings.

After shutting down my laptop, Outlook on my desktop wouldn’t open. It showed missing .pst file. I tried a system restore with no luck.

I did manage to open Outlook through open calendar and all my desk top email/contacts are missing as well as my account settings for email. My default email fonts are still the same.

Does it sound like I lost all my opened email and contacts? I can find a My Data Resources files in My Docs which opens in Excel and then prompts to connect to a server.

Is there a way of recovering my lost data and restoring it to Outlook? I can get my desktop email running again by reentering my account settings which disappeared. I may find out the hard way if what I'm trying to do isn't possible.

Thanks,
Mike

Search your hard drive for files named "*.pst" (without the quotes). Make sure to change the default search options to include hidden and system files anf folders.

Thanks...I'll do that. My email support went thru my desktop settings. From what I could see I messed up the administration settings. I now know how I should have backed up my contacts with the correct file name for easy restore.