How to Repair PST Files For Microsoft Outlook

Posted by Jonh Wednesday, September 9, 2009 2 comments

Microsoft Outlook PST files or Personal Folder Files are an extremely important part of the Outlook Application. Essentially they store all your important information associated with the program, meaning they contain all your emails, contacts, calendar events, personal folder etc. Now you should also know that pst files are very susceptible to several different types of problems and errors. There are many different reasons why pst files become corrupt or damaged and since you are reading this article I believe you have probably encountered one of them. If you have come across a corrupt or damaged PST file and wish to learn How To Repair PST Files For Microsoft Outlook, then there are two ways to go about it. You can either use the Inbox Repair Tool or invest in a good PST Repair Program both ways are able to tackle the problem however success depends on how badly the file is corrupted.

When your Microsoft Outlook PST Files become damaged you are no longer able to access them in Outlook and you probably cannot perform any further operations such as send/receive emails, make notes, set appointments etc. To fix the problem you can either use a free utility that Microsoft provides or grab hold of a third party program.

The free utility that Microsoft provides is known as the Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe). This tool is able to fix some problems but it isn't always to recover all of the data lost from the corrupt pst file. This is because the Scanpst.exe works by repairing the PST Files header information and then deleting anything in the file that it doesn't understand. So if a PST Files header is corrupted then the tool should have no problem in repairing and recovering the file. However if more than just the header of the file is damaged than unfortunately you won't have much success with the Inbox Repair Tool and will have to resort to a good third party software to fully repair your PST file.

If your PST File has become corrupt due to the 2GB File Size Limit or if you see the following error messages when you try to access your PST File:

- Outlook.pst can not be accessed- 0x8004011
- An unknown error has occurred- 0x80040119
- An unknown error has occurred. 0x80040600
- Pst has reached the maximum size limit
- *.pst is not a personal storage folder file
- Outlook.pst file can't be found
- OL2000: Unable to Use Your Personal Folder File if it Exceeds the 2 GB Size Limit

Then you are going to need the help of a decent MS Outlook PST Repair Tool

One particular software that is extremely impressive is the Stellar Outlook PST Repair Program. It is a very powerful tool that can easily recover your emails, messages, contacts and other items from your corrupt pst file. Outlook PST Repair software can even recover messages or emails that have been accidentally deleted from the deleted items folder. The best part about the software is that it will repair your PST File no matter how badly it has been corrupted or damaged (even if your file has exceeded the 2 GB size limit) and it offers a Free Download, so you can try out the Software Risk Free.

Therefore if you have been struck with one of the error messages above and your PST Files have become corrupt then you must be trying to figure out How to Repair PST Files for Microsoft Outlook. Well as I mentioned before there are two options at your disposal, you may be able to get rid of the problem by using the Inbox Repair Tool or if you files are excessively damaged then you will have to obtain a third party software. Either way you will have to get the problem fixed a sap if you wish to access your valuable information in Microsoft Outlook again, so get cracking!

How to Avoid Losing Data In Microsoft Outlook

Posted by Jonh Monday, September 7, 2009 0 comments

Microsoft Outlook is an email client (Mail User Agent to some) which I'm sure you know what it does. If not, let me try to explain it as simply as possible. Email clients are programs or application's which retrieves emails from the web server and downloads it onto your desktop.

Now with that out of the way, did you know that you can lose your mails because of your email client? This is a big deal as email is now a large part of communication both in the corporate world and the private/home user.

How can you lose your emails?

When you use email clients, you risk losing your email just like any other data on your desktop. Here is a list:

  • - Virus attack
  • - Corrupted partitions/volumes
  • - Deletion/Format
  • - Hard Disk Crash
  • - Theft/natural disaster

In Microsoft Outlook versions 2003, 2002, 98 and 97, once Outlook's PST file size goes above 2gb, your emails, or rather, the PST file, gets corrupted.

  • - PST corruption

Installation of anti-virus/anti-spyware

Prevention of viruses, spyware and basically all malware is important as they cause your system and programs to become sluggish, unstable and perform undesirable operations.

And since when you use Microsoft outlook, your emails will get affected as the mails on the server gets downloaded onto your computer.

  • - Install anti-virus/anti-spyware and update frequently

Anti-virus/anti-spyware is available widely and should often be updated for the latest updates and patches.

Use it to scan you computer, and to scan ALL emails if they contain attachments.

Never download anything directly to your computer unless you are certain of the reliability and credibility of its source.

For a detailed view of how to remove viruses, refer to this virus protection blog

Backup

The most reliable way to prevent the loss of your Outlook emails is to backup your PST file. To do this, simply copy your PST to another storage media (such as your thumb drive) or another drive on the same computer.

The PST file can be found by simply opening the search function (go to start menu and you can find the search function there) and copy and paste this term into the search box " .pst " without the double quotes.

Wait for the search finish. The default .pst file name is outlook.pst. Then just copy and paste the .pst file onto your backup media. Backup frequently, as you may never know when the outlook files (or any other important files for that matter) gets accidentally deleted, formatted or corrupted.

Computer Maintenance

Although this should already part of your routine, it bears reminding again. You should maintain your system by defragmenting, running scandsk and so on. This is basic maintenance for your computer as it can help prevent file system problems. It also enables your system to run smoothly and prevent system slowdown.

Here is a slew of other maintenance tips for you to look into

Outlook housekeeping

Yes, even in outlook, you need to do some basic maintenance. This is done to prevent your .PST file from getting corrupted.

Before outlook 2003 (and in earlier versions of outlook 2003), the .PST file limit was set at 2GB. If the .PST file size exceeded this limit, it would be very difficult, if at all possible, to retrieve any data from the .PST file as it would get corrupted.

When you are doing housekeeping, you are trying to keep this limit down and at the same time, helps in organising you mails so that they are easier to retrieve when you need to read them again.

How do you do that? Simple.

Delete all the old mails that you do not need, and remember to empty the trash. Categorise all your mails accordingly. For example, all your work folders should be in a separate folder from you personal emails and so on.

Create a NEW pst file

Another way to keep control of your PST file size is to create another .PST file. Of course, don't create a new .PST file for the sake of creating one.

Have separate .PST files for business and personal mails. To create this a new .PST file, simply open outlook and follow these steps:

  • 1.Go to File menu, to New, and then click Outlook Data File
  • 2. In the next window, you should see two options. Simply choose Office Outlook Personal Folders file. In Outlook 2003, there is an option to increase compatibility with older outlook versions, choose the Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File option. Click Ok
  • 3. Then choose an appropriate location to save your new .PST in. Choose a location, and the type in the filename of your new .PST file.

And there you have it. A new .PST file, all ready for use.

In actual fact, prevention of lost Outlook mails is not hard. However, you need to be constantly maintaining your system and backing up your mails which take up precious time. It is a necessary step to take to prevent you from losing all your precious emails.

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