Hope I can explain this so it makes sense!

I favour pooling all mail into one big .pst file (which i store on an
external drive) and access routinely using search folder shortcuts from the
Outlook folders list. Works well for me so far, but now for the query..

The Outlook Contacts folder - default location in Personal Folders data file
(stored in Documents+Settings on C-drive) is also an ever-expanding file
that, unlike the 'all-mail' data file stored on my external drive, needs to
be backed-up frequently.

The question then is: Can I change the default location of 'Contacts' (so
that it is accessed, (as per my 'all mail' folder) on my external drive,
negating this constant need to keep backing up just the Contacts folder to
the external drive?. Ideally - in theory! - I suppose I am wanting to place
'Contacts' within my 'all mail' .pst so that the one file is located and
accessed from my external drive.

Hope this makes some sense to someone out there!

So a backed-up version always exists on my external drive