How to Recover Corrupt or Damaged Outlook PST Files?
Updated On - September 2, 2021
There is no better program than MS Outlook for managing emails and contacts, organizing events, scheduling tasks, and keeping notes. That is why organizations as well as individual users across the world rely on this Microsoft program for their email communication requirements.
Reasons of PST Corruption in MS Outlook
Outlook Data File (PST) is vulnerable to corruption due to various reasons such as:
- PST size limitation errors
- Exceeding storage space
- Sudden termination of Outlook program
- System corruption
- Virus attacks
By knowing these situations and reasons, the users can actually avoid the corruption to some extent. But circumstances may arise anytime, and you might face corruption, so let’s discuss how to deal with it.
Use the Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) to Solve PST Corruption Issues
Scanpst.exe is an inbuilt PST repair tool by MS Outlook. It can be easily searched and accessed, this inbuilt utility diagnoses and repairs the corruption in a PST file. Follow the steps given below to run the Inbox Repair Tool on corrupt PST:
This method may or may not work for you considering the level of corruption, or it may fix the file partially. All in all, if it fails to recover the PST and data inside it, you might need an alternative solution. And what’s that?
-
- Locate the Scanpst.exe file and double-click it.
Location of the Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) Windows 32 bit Windows 64 bit Outlook 2013
<disk drive>\Program
Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15<disk drive>\Program
Files(x86)\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15Outlook 2010
<disk drive>:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office14<disk drive>:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office(x86)\Office14Outlook 2007
<disk drive>:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office12<disk drive>:\Program
Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12
- Locate the Scanpst.exe file and double-click it.
- Browse and select the corrupt PST file, and click Start.
- Start Outlook with the profile that has the corrupt or damaged PST file.
- Turn on Folder List view (press CTRL + 6)
- Go to Lost and Found folder in the Recovered Personal Folders, to view the items recovered by the Inbox Repair Tool.
- Create a new PST file in Outlook and drag the items of the Lost and Found Folder to the new PST.
- Finally, delete the Recovered Personal Folders.
You may not be able to recover permanently deleted items and seriously corrupted items using this method. In that case you can use professional PST repair tools like RecoveryFIX for Outlook PST Repair to recover the items.
How to Retrieve Corrupt Outlook PST Files?
Steps to recover corrupt or damaged Outlook PST files are as follows:
- Launch RecoveryFix Outlook PST Repair tool.
- Click Browse to select corrupt or damaged PST file, select Standard mode as the file recovery mode.
- Upon PST file scan completion, all the mailbox info will pop on-screen in distinct sections:
- Checkmark all or some specific folders (1) you want to recover and click Save (2).
- Select Save in Outlook (1) and select Save in PST (2). Browse file saving location (3) and click Ok (4).
- Wait for the process to complete.
- Thus, PST is file repaired & recovered successfully; click Ok.
Note: For badly corrupt or damaged Outlook PST File(s), choose Advanced Mode and click Next.
File Tree: In this section, all the parent folders are arranged in a tree structure.
Folder Content: This area displays what’s inside of each folder.
Preview Pane: By clicking on the mail item or attachment, a preview will be shown in this section.
Note: Here, you can save the file in MSG format. Also, you can save the file in Outlook Express format.
Note: If something went wrong or you want to adjust some settings before final PST file recovery, click Stop.
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