Outlook.pst file corrupt!

Foxy Mop

I'm trying to prevent losing 3 years of email, which would be seriously devastating.

I have Outlook 2003 (came w/Office '03) and my Outlook.pst file is around 80GB and is corrupt.

I've tried Scan Disk - it didn't fix the errors.
I've tried Outlook's Inbox repair tool - it didn't fix the errors.
I've tried Scanpst.exe - it couldn't slog through the 80GB to fix anything.

At this point, I've created data folder NewOutlook.pst, just so I can start sending/receiving emails again.

My dilemma is: how can I scan and hopefully repair my corrupt 80GB Outlook.pst file?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. :(

norm

80GB?!?!?!!?!? :eek: that doesn't seem right.....that's a huge outlook file....

i've never had to fix a .pst file but i did a quick search and here;s what i found

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-1052339.html

microsoft has a repair tool for pst files...i hope you can get it fixed....good luck...:)

edit: i just read your post again and you tried this....hmmmmm....i'm stumped....:(

Foxy Mop

cutback wrote:

80GB?!?!?!!?!? :eek: that doesn't seem right.....that's a huge outlook file....

i've never had to fix a .pst file but i did a quick search and here;s what i found

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-1052339.html

microsoft has a repair tool for pst files...i hope you can get it fixed....good luck...:)

edit: i just read your post again and you tried this....hmmmmm....i'm stumped....:(

Yeah, I tried that, but to no avail... thank you for helping though, I appreciate it!


I guess it's so big because it's 3 years of calenders, 3 years of emails (some w/attachments that I never got around to saving), and 500-1000+ contacts. :( Ugh.. makes me ill thinking of all that info lost.

I did make a backup about a year ago, though it could be more.

I ran into a small bit of luck when I figured out I could save at least 65% of my contacts by pulling them from my Treo cell phone..

Foxy Mop

Using the Oversized PST And OST Crop Utility
Another possible cause of corruption is that a PST file has a 2-GB size limit. Once this limit is exceeded, corruption occurs instantly. You can’t initially fix this problem with the Inbox Repair Tool. Instead, you’ll have to use the Oversized PST And OST Crop Utility first, and then follow up with the Inbox Repair Tool. The crop utility works by deleting about 25 MB of data from the file to bring the file back within specs. Use this tool as a last resort, because you can't control what data you lose when using it.

Because of its destructive nature, the tool is unavailable for download. You can only acquire the tool by calling Microsoft’s Product Support Service line at 800-936-4900. Microsoft charges about $200 for calls to this number, and when you call, an operator will ask you for a credit card number. According to numerous sources, if you explain to the operator that you just need a copy of the Oversized PST And OST Crop Utility, but don't need help using the tool, you can get the tool without being billed. You can get more detailed information from Microsoft by reading these Knowledge Base articles: Q197315 and Q296088.

I guess this will end up being my last resort... :eek:

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Try the free version. See what it does for you. It will probably comb the file but not let you export. There may be a free version floating around, however cheaper than calling M$.

http://www.repairpst.net/

I've had (many) marathon sessions of repairing exchange 5.5 mail databases, your data is there, and you will be able to suck most of it out one way or another.

btw 80 gigs?...I've never heard of a PST file close to being that large

norm

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

btw 80 gigs?...I've never heard of a PST file close to being that large

either have i.....which makes me think it's giving a false sixe to the file because it's corrupt.....my outlook file is a little over a gb and i've used it for 10 years....

edit: i forgot about my archive file which is .75gb.....if you get your file fixed laura i suggest archiving to keep the file size low

RolandTD20Kdrummer

cutback wrote:

either have i.....which makes me think it's giving a false sixe to the file because it's corrupt.....my outlook file is a little over a gb and i've used it for 10 years....

edit: i forgot about my archive file which is .75gb.....if you get your file fixed laura i suggest archiving to keep the file size low

Agreed 2 gigs even is monster. Most CEO's I've worked with get in and around this range, and they get 100+ emails a day and NEVER delete anything, I think Outlook 2000 had a 2 gb limit, and XP raised it to much higher (I forget offhand)

There is a compact feature as well. I find sorting by attachment size allows users to quickly dump on average 25-30% of junk they don't need and thought they had deleted already. 80 gigs even at an average attachment size of 2mb for every single email is 40,000 emails!! in reality easily well over 100,000 emails :eek:

How many years at 24 hrs a day would it take to read 100K emails?...lol

Somnium

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B33B1DFF-6F50-411D-BBDF-82019DDA602E&displaylang=en&displaylang=en

zlatan24

For work with outlook files,use next application-outlook pst recovery, the Microsoft Outlook mail client stores such data as: mail messages, tasks, contacts, meetings, notes and logs in files with the .pst extension. Recovering data with Recovery ToolBox for Outlook comes down to reading the corrupted pst file, identifying and recovering data from this pst file, saving the recovered data to one or several new .pst files,can save recovered objects (messages, contacts, notes) as files with the following extensions:eml - the standard extension of message files. Most popular mail clients, such as Outlook Express for example, support this standard; vcf - the extension of the Business Card format (vCard), the standard supported by most Personal Information Managers; txt - the extension of text files. It is possible to save Microsoft Outlook notes recovered from a corrupted pst file to files with the .txt extension.

bradadam1

Hi

You can try a good pst repair software.My pst files have recentaly corrupted and I have used Stellar Phoenix Pst repair software to recover all my files.Its demo version is free in which you can able to see the preview of your recoverable file.Once you see the preview of your recoverable file go for full version to complete your pst recovery.
http://www.repair-outlook-pst.com/

Hope this will help you.

vedder_soup

there is the microsoft tool called scanpst.exe, do a search for that.
it will want to make a backup of the file!!!! :eek:

80GB is ABSOLUTLY FUCKING MASSIVE for a PST file and i am surprised that it didnt fall over earlier.
I repaired one here at work which was 16gb and that took a long time.

as others have suggested, it you get it working again, split it up,
older versions of outlook had issues with pst's over about 2 gig

hope you can fix it up laura.

edit, i just realised this was posted months ago...
did we get it fixed?

Jennytree

vedder_soup wrote:

did we get it fixed?

I think the bigger issues here are the spam accounts just made *tut tut*