Cannot Repair PST File

[adrphibes]

Hello Forum, I have a Personal Folder that is approx 1.8GB.
It is an older format which had the 2GB limit.
We are running Outlook 2007 and this is an older pst that was never changed to the newer format.
At any rate, the file will not open..It produces an error that it is not a Personal Folder File.
I have tried scan pst,Advanced Outlook Repair,even tried kicking it with a hex editor and it still cannot be repaired.
If anyone has any other suggestions on how i might try to recover this,i would appreciate the input.

Thank you kindly..

 

[goombawaho]

Can you start a new profile and import anything from it??

Can you install an older version of Outlook on another PC and try to open it with that?? 1.8GB is NOT 2.0GB (the limit) so I don't know why you have corruption.

I hate to say this (and not sarcastically), but what about backup??? Email is typically critical to a lot of people, so it should be backed up weekly - any way you want to do it. Copy it between computers, throw it on a flash drive, use some type of online backup, external hard drive - just get it backed up.

 

[58sniper]

The limit is actually ~1.8GB of data. When you reach that point, you're done. ScanPST "fixes" these files by shaving off random data (read: DATA LOSS) until the file size is small enough, then repairs the indexes, etc. If ScanPST won't work, restoring from backup is your best bet.

Yet one of the many reasons .pst files are evil.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[adrphibes]

Thank You Goombawaho..I do not take your comment about backup as sarcastic at all..I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post..As a matter of fact,,this pst was taken from a back up..It hasnt been accessed in quite a while,,but when the orignal wouldnt repsond,i pulled a backup copy,,and had the same problem..All the client's other psts open fine,,its just this one..I have seen some psts go bad even before the 2GB max has been reached,,but i have always been able to recover them one way or another...This one is a real pain..and of course it belongs to my boss..(just my luck)
I can try what you said about an earlier version of outlook, and see what happens..If you have any other suggestions,,i welcome them gladly..Thanks again for replying to my question,I appreciate it very much.

 

[adrphibes]

Thank you also to the rest of you who were kind enough to respond to my post..i will try all the suggestions you have suggested..and keep my fingers crossed..
Thank you all..I really appreciate the help..

 

[58sniper]

Curious - but if they were backed up, were they sitting on a server? That's important because that is not only NOT supported, but Microsoft has repeatedly said DON'T DO IT for these exact reasons.

Take a look at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179077.aspx

to see if setting the max .pst file size in a GPO might help avoid this in the future.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[goombawaho]

^^^^ He means - does the PST file LIVE on the server all the time or is it just copied there for backup purposes? Having the PST live there and then get accessed from the client is not supported.

 

[adrphibes]

Yeah,,we keep the pst files local,,and make a backup to the network in case of a hard drive failure,,or if the local goes bad etc..Im aware of Microsoft's warnings about network mapped psts so we try to keep them local.I suspect the file was bad to begin with and got backed up as it was,,so the backed up file i pulled was corrupted just as the original was...I think i've wasted enough of everyones time on this.(Including my own)..Sometimes you gotta know when to fold em'
But thank you all once again for your knowledge and willingness to help out.I truly appreciate it.

Best regards.
Adrphibes

 

[58sniper]

Just out of curiosity, is this a non Exchange environment, where Outlook is used as a POP3 or IMAP4 client?

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/

 

[goombawaho]

Hopefully your boss won't execute you.

 

[adrphibes]

Thanks goombawaho,,and all the rest....I dont think my boss will execute me....He wont be happy,,but i dont think my life is in any danger at this point..
And regarding 58sniper's question...We are on an exchange system..No POP or IMAP clients...
Like i said,,it looks like a bad pst that was bad for a long time and got backed up that way...so a solid working copy was never made...Just one of those unfortunate things.And as i mentioned,,it had not been accessed for quite some time,,so my boss couldnt even tell me when he was last able to open it up successfully...So im sure it was bad when it got backed up along with the others....

Thanks again everyone for all your replies...

Best Regards.

 

[58sniper]

If you are on Exchange, you really should make an effort to get away from pst files once and for all. All kinds or technical and legal reasons.

Pat Richard MVP
Plan for performance, and capacity takes care of itself. Plan for capacity, and suffer poor performance.

http://www.ucblogs.net/blogs/exchange/