Glad you got it sorted Martin - sometimes if Outlook doesnt close down properly it can cause corruption of the PST file - especially if the PC is accidently turned off, reset or has crashed etc etc.

doesntbelong - I dont really feel thats a viable option for Martin tbh - I imagine this would cost a fair amount and he would then be reliant on someone else to retrieve & do backups on his behalf. I very much doubt there would of been someone from his hosting company at 2:15am this morning to aid him should he need to of restored emails.

Now that this has happened once I think Martin will probably backup on a more regular basis aswell as he can see what can happen if it all goes a little Pete Tong on him!!! This is all that needs to be done IMO.

You probably were having issues with PST files due to the sheer size of them at BAE systems - I deal with customers using them day in day out and very rarely encounter problems with them.