Like other data files, PST files are also prone to corruption. When the PST file gets damaged or corrupted, you may fail to access the mailbox data in the file and experience different errors. This can impact your email communication and hinder your business activity. Since PST file stores important mail items, it is crucial to repair the damaged or corrupted PST file as soon as possible. In this post, we’ll discuss the methods to restore the corrupt PST files in Outlook. Before proceeding, let’s take a look at the causes behind corruption in PST file.
Table of Contents
What Causes Corruption in PST Files?
Corruption in PST files can occur due to one or more of the below reasons:
- Improper system shutdown or crash.
- Force closing of the Outlook application.
- Power failure while working on PST files.
- Large-size of the Outlook PST file.
- Issues in the hard disk where the PST file is saved.
- Faulty or corrupt add-ins can cause conflicts, leading to corruption in PST files.
Top Methods to Restore Corrupt PST Files
To repair and restore corrupt or damaged PST file, follow the below-mentioned methods.
Method 1: Restore PST File from Backup
If you have an updated healthy backup file of the PST file, you can restore the backup file and replace it with the problematic file. To restore PST file from backup,
- Close your Outlook and related applications.
- Go to the default PST file location and move the default PST file to another location.
- Now, go to the location where the backup PST file is saved and copy the file.
- Paste the copied backup PST file at the default location.
- Start your Outlook application and check if you can access your PST file items.
Method 2: Use Outlook Inbox Repair Tool (ScanPST)
If you don’t have backup PST file, then you can use the Inbox Repair tool, also known as ScanPST, to repair the damaged or corrupted PST file. The tool is located in the installation directory of your Outlook. It can help to repair PST file with minor corruption issues. The steps to use this tool are:
- Go to the location of the Inbox repair tool. Its location varies based on the version of the Outlook you are using.
- Right-click on ScanPST and click Run as Administrator to launch it.
- On Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair Tool dashboard, click Browse.
- Choose the damaged PST file and click Start.
- The ScanPST tool will start scanning the PST file for errors.
- Once the file has been scanned, it will display the errors (if found). Selected the checkbox “Make backup of the scanned file before repairing” option. Next, click on the Repair option.
- Once the repair process is complete, a dialog box with the “Repair Complete” message is displayed. Click OK.
Note: The Inbox Repair tool can repair only minor corruption issues in the PST file. If the PST file is severely corrupted, you may need to run this tool multiple times to repair it completely. Also, this tool fails to respond when you try to repair large-sized PST file.
Method 3: Use a Third-Party PST Recovery Software
If you have a large-sized or severely corrupted PST file, then you can use an advanced PST recovery software, like Stellar Repair for Outlook. This software can quickly repair severely corrupted PST file without any file size limitation. Also, it can recover all mailbox items, including the deleted mail items, from the corrupt PST file and save them in a new PST file with 100% integrity.
Some advantages of using Stellar Repair for Outlook:
- It can repair extremely damaged or encrypted PST files.
- It can repair large-sized PST files (up to 50 GB) with complete precision and integrity.
- It allows you to save the repaired PST file in different formats, like EML, HTML, MSG, and PDF.
- It supports MS Outlook 2019, 2016, and earlier versions.
- It allows to preview the recoverable mail items before saving them.
- It can also export the mail items from the repaired PST file directly to Microsoft 365 and live Exchange Server (Technician edition).
Conclusion
If your PST file is corrupt, you may fail to access the emails and other mail items. In such a case, you can restore the backup file. If you don’t have backup, then you can use the built-in Inbox Repair tool (SCANPST.EXE) in Outlook to repair the PST file. If the Inbox Repair tool fails to repair the PST file, then you can use a more advanced and reliable Outlook PST repair tool, such as Stellar Repair for Outlook. It can even repair severely corrupted PST files without any file size limitation as compared to ScanPST. It saves the recovered mail items to a new healthy PST file, which you can easily import into your Outlook.