Common PST Errors and Efficient Method to Rectify Them

There can be variety of reasons why your PST file gets corrupt. Some of the common reasons include unexpected system shutdown without quitting Outlook properly, bad sectors on the hard drive, power failure, system crash, oversized PST file, and many such. Irrespective to the reason of PST corruption, the problem in any such situations wherein the PST gets corrupt is; you become completely unable to extract your data stored in your PST file.

Generally, you get an error message for the same. Some of the commonly seen error messages rendering PST corruption are:

• “File xxxx.pst could not be accessed. Data error. Cyclic redundancy check.”
• “The file xxxx.pst is not a personal folders file.”
• “The file xxxx.pst could not be found.”
• “xxxx.pst can not be accessed – 0x80040116.”
• “Unable to display the folder. The file xxxx.pst could not be accessed.”
• “Microsoft Outlook has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
• “Errors have been detected in the file xxxx.pst. Quit Outlook and all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox repair tool (Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. For more information about the Inbox repair tool, see Help.”

In these error messages, the xxxx.pst is the name of your corrupt Outlook PST file. However, you need not to worry, if you get any of the below mentioned error message caused due to PST corruption because there are measures to overcome them. One of the most efficient inbuilt utilities of Microsoft to perform PST recovery is ‘Inbox Repair Tool’. This tool is available basically as an executable file (scanpst.exe) and is installed with the installation of Outlook. The default location of the Inbox Repair tool is:

‘drive:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\LocaleID folder’ – here the LocaleID is the locale identifier (LCID) used for the installation of MS Office.

After locating this tool at the above mentioned location for the recovery of your corrupt PST file, you have to make sure that MS Outlook is not running. After running the tool, you will be greeted with a dialog box naming ‘Inbox Repair Tool’ that asks you to browse for the location where your corrupt PST is saved. Select your PST file and click ‘Start’ button for its scanning. After completion of the scan process, you will see a notification that tells you about the file that is being scanned by it, the number of folders and items found in this file, and a message about the errors found in it.

Moreover, the message on this box suggests you to use ‘Repair’ button for resolving the errors found. However, do not forget to check the option for making the backup copy of your scanned file. Now upon completion of these steps, click ‘Repair’ button’ to start repairing of scanned file. When this process is done, you will be able to open your Outlook properly and use it.

However, if the PST corruption is severe, then there are chances of failure of this process. If this happens, then use of a professional PST recovery software is recommended. Reliable PST recovery tool repairs corrupt or damaged PST file without causing data loss.