BitDefender has deleted my entire PST file

I installed BitDefender a few weeks ago and it runs a nightly scan. This morning it showed two Trojans on the PC and had already disinfected the files. I moved them to quarantine. Turns out it was the entire PST file that is now empty. The home business relies heavily (entirely!) on email and there is not one single email left and I hadn't backed up for over a year!

I have searched the hard drive hoping for some renamed file, but there is nothing. Do you know if there is some sort of "undo" feature in BitDefender? I have not been able to locate anything and the Logs folder for this app is empty. I should have stuck with my free AVG... Why on earth would it zap the entire PST file and not just the infected email(s)??? Do any of you wizards have any advice??:cry

 

Greetings, sherjack.

That ain't good - take a look at this BitDefender forum thread.

You might verify that, though - is there a way to access or browse the BD quarantine area (you might try enabling the view hidden and system files in Explorer folder options)?

I'm not a BitDefender user, but hang in there - the gurus here will help you. Keep us posted, and welcome to MG! :major

 

Thanks Caliban. I can browse to the quarantine folder - it's actually contained in the All Users profile under Application Data\BitDefender\Desktop\Quarantine\Temp, but the Outlook PST file in that folder is empty as well (1.2gb - seems large to be empty doesn't it?).

 

A THOUGHT - I just realized that something that we had done might have caused this. A defrag was running when the BitDefender scan started up. I suppose it could be that the defrag process was moving/rearranging files (does it move the whole PST file at once when it does this?). Not sure.

 

Good shot - you might be onto something, there. Possibility that the data may still exist, just hidden or inaccessible: you might search for any Outlook solutions to deleted .PST files, even consider a file recovery tool, see what it might come up with.

So, there are no 'Restore' functions anywhere in BitDefender?

______________

Just saw your 'A THOUGHT' post, so I had one, too - maybe use a System Restore point, try to go back in time?

 

Can't you open Bitdefender and restore the file from quarantine?
http://www.downloadatoz.com/utility...s.quarantine.html#antivirus.quarantine.manage

 

Thanks JustPlayin - that was one of the first things I tried and it restored the file as empty because it had first "disinfected" the file.

 

Words fail me rolleyes

You need to find and run the Inbox Repair Tool. It's called scanpst.exe and it's location depends on the version of Outlook you are using. For Outlook 2007 it's in Program Files\Microsoft Offcie\Office12. Post back if you can't find it as I can point you to a tool that can.

 

Thank you Earthling. I don't blame you for being speechless - I have an external drive sitting right beside me. No excuse. :-o I will run the scanpst and post a response. Thanks again.

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU. I would kiss you if you were here in Calgary!! That worked perfectly. Errors are fixed and ... wait for it ... I have a backup!!

Seriously, I really appreciate the assistance from this site and those who responded in particular.

Sincerely,

Sherri Jackson (Calgary, AB Canada)

 

Good job! Glad you got it - make sure you stick around, enjoy Major Geeks for a while.

 

Good job I'm not then, but v.pleased you've got it back

 

Scanpost.exe didn't solve the problem for me. Bitdefender removes outlook.pst when scan settings are set to deep scan. You can restore but outlook.pst is not placed back where it should be. I had to remove Office 2010 pro and reinstall it which wasn't simple either as some files are left behind and have to be manually deleted from register (WIN 7 Pro) before you can reinstall office 2010. After reinstalling office successfully my e-mail was functioning again ( the first time) The second time I havent been so lucky. I can no longer send/receive e-mails. BitDefender support is a total joke. I uninstalled Bitdefender and will neither recommend or use it ever again.
There's my two cents worth.
mike.

 

It is now September 2019 and Bitdefender just quarantined my Outlook pst file. This post saved me as I had no idea that is what happened until I read this post. I recovered the file from quarantine, ran scanpst.exe to repair it and imported it into the new Outlook pst file I set up when I my Outlook pst file had disappeared. Thank you so much. I had done backups of my hard drive with Acronis both on an external and to the cloud, but Acronis does not back up my Outlook pst file from the Documents folder - it is just empty, so I was really stuck. This post saved me after hours of trying everything else. Thank you again.

 

@Mrs. Lee Lake
Welcome to MajorGeeks.
Kindly don't post in a 9 year old thread.

 

I don't know, about others, but sometimes when folks post to an old thread it is helpful to me.