Microsoft Outlook PST file is an important file, PST stands for Personal Storage Table, and it holds inbox data such as emails, attachments, Sent Items, Deleted Items, calendar entries, contacts, notes, journal and more. Hence, PST is an essential file for Outlook users. However, many times many errors occur in Outlook which pushes PST file towards the corruption. A damaged or corrupted PST file leads to the severe problem of data loss and also hamper the Outlook performance. Due to the corruption user lose their access from the PST file and it won’t be recover unless it repairs with the appropriate method.
Before going for any resolution of the issues, let’s figure out the main causes for PST file corruption.
Why MS Outlook PST files get corrupted?
If Outlook takes too much time to open up or freezes regularly, or facing unexpected crashes, or often fails to launch altogether, it indicates that the Outlook PST file is get damaged. There could be a number of reasons behind PST file damage/corruption, some are given below:
- Oversized PST can easily get damaged, so make sure to get backup of PST file data on a regular interval.
- The unexpected closure of Outlook while accessing mailbox data
- Virus or Malware infection to PST file
- Bad sectors of the hard drive, if the PST is stored in such sectors it could become damaged
- Broken PST splitting / resizing process
- Discrepancies while transferring PST from one computer on a network
If Outlook PST file is brutally damaged, it will regularly show a pop-up error message which is the sign of damaged PST file. In such condition, you should shut-down Outlook straightforwardly to ensure that no data is written off the data of PST. Once you’ve confirmed that, go for the below methods to repair Outlook PST corrupt file.
Manual Method to Fix Corrupt PST
Microsoft inbuilt a default Inbox Repair Utility called ScanPST.exe. It can find and fix slight issues within damaged PSTs. To recover PST file with free utility tool, follow the below-mentioned steps:
- Double-tap the ScanPST.exe home utility
- Now click the browse switch and select the corrupt PST file
- Click the Start button and scan the corrupt PST file for errors.
- The scanning process is being run on your system. Wait until it gets successfully completed.
- After finishing the process, you can check all the errors and corruption issues.
- You can create a backup of this scanned file before repairing it. Just marked check and make a backup of scanned file before repairing box. You may also uncheck it.
- Click the button to repair PST file.
- You will receive a message flashing “Repair complete”.
- Click OK to confirm it.
PST Repair tool by Recovee Software – The easiest way to recover Outlook PST
Outlook PST Repair tool by Recovee software recover encrypted and password-protected PST files and lets users save selected recovered emails in EML, MSG, RTF, HTML, as well as PDF formats. Users can recover unintentionally deleted emails and also easily ‘Find’ PST in case users are unaware of its location on the device. It has interactive GUI, this tool makes repairing PST files easier for users. Demo version of this tool is available at free of cost.