Sometimes Outlook users receive error messages like “unable to open PST file”, “PST data cannot be accessed by Outlook 2016” errors, these errors create complications to send & receive emails. There are many reasons for these errors, but PST file corruption is the primary reason to these type of errors. If you are also facing an error due to PST file corruption, then you are landed in the right place, here we are going to describe a method to repair corrupted PST file.
In the upcoming section, we will describe issues that are responsible for Outlook PST file corruption and method to fix these issues.
Common Reasons behind Outlook PST File Corruption
Corruption due Bad Sector of Hard Drive – If the hard drive has some bad sector, and the PST file is stored in those sectors there is a possibility you will get a corrupted PST file.
PST file Stored in Network Drive or Server – If a PST file stored in the network server and you are trying to access through a network link, but the network device is not working properly, then the remote access to the PST file can make it corrupted.
Virus Infection – Virus & malware can make PST file inaccessible, some time’s virus attack is responsible for Outlook PST file corruption.
Sudden System shut-down – If Outlook is open in the backend, and the system suddenly shuts down it will make the PST file is inaccessible.
There are many other reasons for PST file corruption like PST exceed their default file size limit, but the considerable point is how to repair corrupted Outlook PST files. Let’s discuss the method to fix corruption issues.
Methods to Repair Corrupted Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003 PST File?
There are two methods available to repair corrupted PST files, first is the manual method inbuilt Scanpst.exe, and the second is an automated repair tool.
Method 1 – Repair Corrupted PST File with ScanPST.exe
Scanpst.exe or inbox repair tool is an inbuilt tool that is provided by Microsoft to fix minor corruption issues of Outlook PST file. By using this tool you can repair minor corruption of the PST file. It will fix the header level corruption of PST file.
Follow the given steps to repair the corruption PST file of Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003.
1: Open scanpst.exe from the default location.
2: Now, click on the Browse button to add the PST file that you want to repair.
3: After adding the PST file click on the Start button to scan the corrupted PST file.
4: Once the scanning process completed, click on the repair button to repair the corrupted PST file.
5: It will take a few min to fix corruption issues.
Remember – ScanPST.exe tool is perfect to fix minor level corruption issues of the PST file, but it not enough capable for repairing highly corrupted PST files. To fix major corruption issues you have to move on the next method.
Method 2 – Automated Tool to Repair Corrupted Outlook PST File
We would like to suggest you a trusted automated tool like DataHelp PST repair tool. This tool will repair the highly corrupted PST file of Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003. Apart from this it will recover permanently deleted items from PST file. This is an advanced tool to resolve all types of Outlook issues.
Follow the given steps to know more about the tool & repair the corrupted PST file.
1: Start software on your machine.
2: Browse the PST file which you want to repair. To do this job tool provides Select File, Search file options.
3: Now, we have to scan the PST file, tool provides two options to scan the file, 1 – Quick Scan, 2 – Advanced Scan. A quick scan tool will repair minor corruption and an advanced scan option will repair highly corrupted PST files.
4: You can see the tool repaired & recovered deleted data. Now we have to save recovered data. The tool provides multiple file formats to save recovered data like PST, MBOX, EML, MSG, PDF.
5: Click on the Export button to save data. Then select the PST file to save repair data into PST.
6: Browse the destination location & click on the Export button.
7: Now, the software starts the process.
Conclusion
PST file is prone to corruption and there are many reasons behind the PST file corruption, however, users can fix corruption issues by using scanpst.exe, but in case this tool not working or file is highly corrupted then we have to use an automated repair tool. So in above solution based blog we have described both methods to repair corrupted Outlook PST file.