Best software to recover a corrupted .pst file?

May 5, 2006 11:51 AM

Best software to recover a corrupted .pst file?

I have a corrupt Outlook archive, in the form of a .pst file. Many of the demos available on the web seen to recover the archive, but since they are all demos, there doesn't seem to be a really good way to compare them. Spending $100-$200 isn't a problem. Much more, however, is objectionable.

Which of these million programs is best? My main concern is getting back as much of the data as is possible.

posted by Kwantsar to computers & internet (10 comments total)

(scanpst does not work)
posted by Kwantsar at 11:55 AM on May 5, 2006

I do not know what your situation is, but I have had Outlook itself become so corrupted that it ruined every pst on the disk.

No recovery software I found worked either, since all the programs that I found depended on the (corrupted) MAPI interface that Outlook provides.

I eventually had to give up and wipe the disk, since reinstalling Outlook and even reinstalling XP without wiping didn't work.

That is not really an answer, but ensure as best you can that your Outlook is still working properly before wasting any time trying to recover on a corrupted box.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:48 PM on May 5, 2006

PST files are just Access databases, if I remember correctly. Consider looking into Access database recovery tools.
posted by evariste at 12:53 PM on May 5, 2006

Thanks for the answers so far.

Access won't open it, Outlook is otherwise fine.

The .pst file contains about 21,000 emails from two years ago.
posted by Kwantsar at 12:59 PM on May 5, 2006

The trial version of Mail Navigator has no limitations on its export of Outlook pst files. Try that? It should export to a more-standard mail format.
posted by evariste at 1:18 PM on May 5, 2006

Is the PST file over 2GB? If so, you'll need to split it before you repair it. The operation is unusual, though: You'd need to use a hex editor to delete some chunks from the middle of your file, enough to get it below 2GB. Run ScanPST to recover. Then, on another copy of that original corrupt PST, delete enough chunks from the END to get it below 2GB. ScanPST again (to recover any bits that you ended up cutting out of the first file). Import into a new PST, overwriting duplicates, and you're done.

What did ScanPST report as its error?
posted by Merdryn at 1:20 PM on May 5, 2006

The PST file is 500MB. And scanpst doesn't describe the errors-- it just claims it fixes them, but the archive nonetheless refuses to open.
posted by Kwantsar at 1:58 PM on May 5, 2006

And by "refuses to open", what is the exact message that Outlook gives you? I want to help, but I can't see your screen, so you'll have to read it for me. ;)
posted by Merdryn at 7:03 AM on May 6, 2006

Oh, and which version of Outlook?
posted by Merdryn at 7:03 AM on May 6, 2006

Merdryn--

It gave no error at all. It just pretended to open the archive, but there was nothing there.

I was able to fix my problem, however, without buying software, thanks to this cat.
posted by Kwantsar at 3:42 PM on May 7, 2006