When looking into PST repair and recovery we need to try and
ascertain why the PST or personal folder has become corrupt in
the first place, otherwise if we manage to repair it, what’s
to stop the same thing happening again?
The most common fault of a PST
becoming corrupt is the size, once the maximum size is reached
or almost reached files do become unreliable.
If you’re using Outlook 97, 98, 2000 or XP which all use
American National Standards Institute or ANSI then the maximum
size is 2gb .
Using Outlook 2003 or later uses UNICODE this allows the Maximum
size to be much more useful 20gb .
PST files can also become corrupt when the connection to
them from Outlook is severed while they were in use, this can
happen is Outlook is forcibly closed or if the PST stored on a
network then the network connection fails or disconnects.
Before we begin the PST repair Close outlook and copy the PST
file to a local location such as your C drive, running repairs
to large PST files over a network can be a slow process.
Once you’ve copied the file locally this also serves another
purpose as you also now have a backup of the file just in case.
Search for the application called SCANPST.EXE which is
the PST repair tool
This will be installed when you install office, it normally
resides in C:\program files\common files\system\msmapi\1033
It can also be found on the Office installation CD
Launch SCANPST.EXE
and you’ll see the Inbox Repair Tool Browse to the location of the PST files you wish
to repair
Select Start
It will then run through 8 tests
of the file. Now’s a good time to grab a coffee if the PST file
is large as this can take some time.
Once finished you’ll see a report of the file including the
errors, files and folders
Now open Outlook and remove the old PST file, and add the new
one.
Remember that the PST file is running locally on your computer
at the moment, check to make sure that you are happy with it, if
the size is too large break it down into multiple PST files now.
Once done remove it from Outlook
and copy it to your network location replacing the old corrupt
one.
To add PST / Personal folders to your computer
Open Outlook File Menu > Data File Management > Add…
Browse to the location of your PST file
To remove PST / Personal Folders from your computer
Open Outlook File Menu > Data File Management > select the file
you wish to remove and select Remove
For more
information checkout our Video on how to repair Outlook
PST/Personal Folders.
Notes
You cannot work on PST files while Outlook is open
Copying emails between PST files can take a long time, and the
worse thing you can do is to stop the process once started.
Disaster
recovery article for more on disaster recovery basics
PST repair and password recovery recover your outlook personal
folders ... PST repair tools recovery repair your outlook
personal folders using Microsoft's inbox ...
www.computer-adviser.com/disaster-recovery-article.html
Computer Health
Check - make sure your pc is in tip top condition
If you have a password protected Outlook personal folder or PST
that you can't gain access to, the following PST / personal
folder password recovery tips ...
www.computer-adviser.com/computer-health-check.html
Outlook backup
how to backup Microsoft outlook the easy and quick way
Make sure your PST files are not larger than 75% of their
maximum or they will be slow, ... To check the size of
your PST or Mailbox from Outlook Right Click on Personal ...
www.computer-adviser.com/outlook-backup.html
Find out how to repair an Outlook personal folder using
Microsoft's PST repair tool. Outlook personal folder / PST
password recovery ...
www.computer-adviser.com/what-is-an-outlook-personal-folder.html
