User had outlook misconfigured and set to internet mail not Exchange mail. Therefore it downloaded the inbox off the server to the pc. Whilst trying to reconfigure it for Exchange (not knowing of the option to reconfigure mail services) Outlook was removed and the users profile along with the PST file deleted and the recylce bin emptied. Outlook was reinstalled hoping to get the wizard giving the internet/ exchange mail option again which it failed to do. Anyway services were reconfigured and it was setup for Exchange and gave an empty inbox. This was confirmed with web access to the mailbox.
Two recovery programs were tried but the pst file could not be found. The administrators of Exchange here say an individual mailbox can not easily be restored from the tape backup without building a new Exchange server. So, if the inbox contents were downloaded to the pc what happened to the messages on the server. Could they be recovered there?