spondee wrote:

Now that I'm recovering from that, I keep excellent back ups of
'outlook'.pst. I physically copy it to another file folder, renaming
it .old every week. PLUS, I have an auto back up that copies to an
portable HD every hour x 6 copies.

Now I need to lean about the 'folders.pst mailbox.pab and
outlookbackup.pst files that are in the same folder. They never seem
to change in size/date.

Ask Outlook if it's using those PSTs by clicking FileData File Management.
If those PSTs don't show up there, then Outlook isn't actively using them
and you can back them up once if you wish and delete them or they are being
used as an Archive PST. If you want to check what's in them first, open
them in Outlook with FileOpenOutlook Data File, examine their contents and
see if they contain anything of value. If then don't close them
(right-clickClose) and then you can delete them the next time you stop
Outlook. If they do conatin something of value, you can either drag that
into your main PST and them close and delete them or just save them as they
are and then close and delete them.

I don't even know where the 'backup.pst' folder came from...

Every single folder can have its own backup setttings, so you may want to
review the properties of each folder to see if any autobackup settings are
enabled.

Questions a How can I protect .pst files from corruption? (Should
I copy under other names?),

I think you're doing what you should: making periodic backups of your PST.

Should I be concerned about .pab file?

The PAB is not used at all by Outlook 2003. If you have all your COntacts
in your Contacts folder, just delete the PAB.
--
Brian Tillman