Personal Folders

Hello-
I consolidated several folders of emails in MS Outlook 2000 into one personal folder. My intent was to back-up the personal folder into a pst file to free up some space on my email. I am not that computer savvy so I was following some instructions I got off of the internet. After I consolidated the files, I shut down my computer. When I rebooted, the personal folder I created was gone, as was all of the emails I had moved into the folder. Can someone please advise me as to how I can retrieve this folder? I have no idea where it is and I can’t find it!
Thank you–
Kathy