Repair Outlook pst

Microsoft Office Outlook creates and uses a single file called PST to store all its e-mails, attachments, calendars, contacts, and other items. PST is a database and can get corrupt for numerous of reasons, which includes storing the file on LAN/WAN link, PST 2 GB file size limitation, virus infection, unexpected power outage, and more. As symptoms, you might observe that Outlook fails to send and receive e-mail messages or starts behaving abruptly. However, to Repair PST file, you need to take aid of certain utilities built specifically to fix the corruption.

To further clarify these issues, let’s consider the case when you try to open an Outlook PST file. In this case, you might fail in your attempts and receive the below mentioned error message on screen:

“Errors have been detected in the file xxxx.pst. Quit Outlook and all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox repair tool(Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. For more information about the Inbox repair tool, see Help.”

On encountering this error message, you cannot send and receive more e-mails from this PST.

Explanation

An Outlook PST is consisted of two main parts, which are file header and data. The PST file header is further consisted of important file attributes like, file size, file signature, etc. When you try to open the PST file, it first checks the file header and then reads its data. Any error while this process results in issues, such as mentioned above.

Outlook Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) can repair the corrupted PST, if corruption exists in file header but not in data part. In other words, scanpst.exe will be unable to resolve file corruption if file data is inconsistent or in a state that Outlook cannot read. To resolve this type of corruption, you need to take aid of third-party products. However, you should first backup your PST file and run Outlook Inbox Repair Tool to Repair PST File.

The third-party software to Repair PST files are exclusive tools that can repair your corrupted PST using powerful plus effective scanning algorithms. Also, these software can be easily operated with the interactive user interface.

One of the best utilities to Repair PST File is Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair. Supporting Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000, the tool can restore all e-mails, calendars, contacts, notes, and other file components. In addition, the software can also recover deleted emails.

NAS (Network Attached Storage) provides file-level data storage to different clients connected to the network. But storing an Outlook PST on a NAS storage can eventually result into file corruption. To repair a corrupted PST, Inbox Repair Tool is the solution. However, if this fails, you need to use a third-party Outlook PST Repair utility.To illustrate such problems, consider a situation when you store your Outlook PST (Personal Storage Folder) on a NAS that is accessed by different computers. You use Windows 7 on the client workstation. You observe that Outlook PST gets corrupt for no apparent reason. When you attempt to access the PST, it reports an error suggesting that the file is damaged. The PST(s) stored on Windows 7 client workstation are unaffected.

Cause

The PST stored on the NAS is damaged. PST is not designed to be stored on any LAN/WAN link and can often get damaged when stored on any server that is accessed by various users.

Except for IMO accounts, the PST is the local copy of your messages and should not be stored as an enterprise environment solution. The reason is that PST is a file-access-driven method, whereas the LAN/WAN links use network-access-driven methods. If the file is remotely stored, such as on NAS, the application utilizes file commands to read/write data to the file however, the operating system (Windows 7 in this case) sends these commands over the network. This results into a great overhead issues and the file may get corrupt in case the connection fails or slows down.

Solution

Use Inbox Repair Tool: You can repair a corrupted PST using Outlook built-in utility called Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe). It is a hidden file and can be located if the view for hidden files and folders is enabled. You are suggested to backup your damaged PST before running the tool as it may cause irrecoverable damages to the file structure. In Windows 7, the tool is typically located at the following folder:

disk drive:\users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Where, disk drive is your primary drive.

Use third-party tools: The third-party PST Repair tools are safe utilities designed specifically to scan and repair a corrupted PST. An Outlook PST Repair utility provides you graphically rich interface plus the ability to restore corrupted PST in any case of file corruption.

For best results, it is suggested to use Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair v4.0. The advanced PST Recovery Software product supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. The software can restore all file objects, which include e-mails, notes, contacts, calendar entries etc. The tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000.