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Outlook PST File Recovery

The most important thing to remember about Outlook PST file recovery is to try not to get into that position in the first place. We will discuss prevention first and then some options if you do lose your outlook file.

Prevention

To safeguard your PST files, you should be taking a couple of actions

1. Backup your file on a regular basis
2. Make sure that the file stays below 2 GB at all times.

In Outlook versions of XP and earlier, there isn’t an easy way to back up your files. When you use Outlook, all of your files are usually contained in one file with a PST extension. In some cases, a user may deliberately spread their data over several PST files. The PST file is usually buried in the folder structure of a disk. You can find the location of the file by going to Tools, options, mail, and look for the location of the outlook file(s). You could copy the file from the location manually but that is usually a tedious process. There is a free Outlook Backup utility from Microsoft. (go to www.microsoft.com and look for office downloads. Then search for Outlook Backup) That will usually work. If it doesn’t work, you might want to try a product made specifically to back up Outlook such as Genie Outlook Backup.

Make sure that you are backing up your file to something other than your hard drive. CDs or DVDs will work for most people. You need to have multiple copies of your file. That way, if one of the files gets corrupted, you can go back to previous versions until you find an uncorrupted file.

2 GB limit

Many Outlook users run into problems because their file grows to more than 2 GB. At this point, you will need to run a crop utility or send the file to a data retrieval specialist.

When good Outlook files go bad

If Outlook suddenly starts acting up, you will need to take some immediate action.

Determine where your outlook files live. You can either go into outlook or do a Start, Search and search for PST files. Look at the file dates if there are multiple files. In XP, the PST files are usually under DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS, Your user name

1. MAKE A BACKUP of the file. Do not work with the original. If you need to send the PST file to a professional recovery service, you should give them the file without any changes. To be absolutely safe, burn the originals and the copies to CD.

2. Try running the SCANPST file. If you can’t locate it, do a START, SEARCH and search for SCANPST.EXE. Many people suggest running scandisk and scanpst several times in order to try to recover your data. After Scanpst runs, take a look at the number of folders and items. That should be close to the number of folders and files you thought you had in outlook.

3. MS Crop Utility - If that doesn’t work, you could try the crop utility from microsoft. This utility is a lot riskier to use and Microsoft usually charges over $200 for the utility.

4. Try restoring your backups - If none of the above items work, you can try restoring your backups. If you don’t have a backup, you have to start thinking about professional data recovery. One problem is that there doesn’t seem to be a clear leader in the field. Another problem is that you will have to send your outlook file, with all of your personal and corporate data, to a third party.

Many data recovery companies will set up an FTP account so that you can send your file over the internet. That is OK for smaller files. However, we recently tried to FTP an 800MB file to Australia. The Internet was bogging down and we were getting an insane 8kbs upload. The file would have arrived there in a couple of months. We could have send the file on DVD via Fedex.

Most recovery services have a ‘no fix, no fee’ policy. If you are sending your data out of country make sure that check about payment policies beforehand. For example, one company would not take credit cards for out of country business but they would take Paypal

Note – If you have a Palm or other handheld and you use the handheld to track information, you want to be very careful with this process. You should find out where your handheld is storing it’s backups on your pc and then back that file up.

Last modified:  11/10/06