Outlook 2000 .PST file corrupt? 1

[jitter]

On a system running Windows 2000 Pro SP2 and Office 2000.

When you try to open Outlook it just hangs and the hard drive just churns away but nothing happens. Eventually you have to hard boot the machine.

I have tried to copy the outlook.pst file but the same thing happens.

I have ran chkdsk /F and nothing helps.

I hate for the user to lose all their information but I do not know what to do.

If I touch the outlook.pst file at all then the system freezes.

Does anybody have any thoughts on what I can try before I tell them they are out of luck and all their outlook information is lost?

Thanks.

 

[joegz]

Have you tried running the Inbox Repair tool on the pst file to see if errors are found? The program file is called scanpst.exe and the location of the file will depend on what OS you are using. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[jitter]

I ran scanpst on the file in question. After 33% of phase 1 it causes the system to freeze. It says it cannot access the file and to run scandisk and then try again. I do this with the same results.

I think I may just be out of luck unless anyone else has any ideas.

 

[joegz]

How big is the PST file and is it stored on a network drive or local drive? joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[jitter]

It is 169 meg stored locally on the system in question.

 

[joegz]

That size should not be a big deal for the Inbox Repair Tool to handle. My only other suggestion would be (if you are on a network) is to copy the file to another machine and see if you have any luck running the inbox repair tool on the file.

If you do run into the same problem then the PST file probably can't be salvaged unless someone else has any suggestions. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[jitter]

Thanks joegz. That was one of the first things I tried. I tried copying the file to my system but it froze his system up just as it had been doing.

I guess it is just game over...

 

[joegz]

I know of one other product but it costs $$$ if it is important enough.

http://www.officerecovery.com

has a recovery tool for Outlook .pst files. I personally have not tried it other than the demo(I only have used the Word and Excel recovery programs which are real good) but perhaps you may want to take a look. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."