How to Repair a Corrupt PST File?

Outlook is the most dependent email application used worldwide. Equally, it has a major drawback- PST File Corruption. We use Outlook for managing emails, contacts, organizing calendar, keeping notes, scheduling tasks, etc. And, our entire Outlook information will be stored in this PST file.

As the original copy of the PST file resides on our system drive, chances are more that it may get corrupt easily. And, any kind of corruption or damage to a PST file results in loss of data along with inaccessibility of Outlook profile. But, there are ways to repair a corrupt PST file and make it accessible again.

So, here are the two easy techniques to fix a corrupt PST file.

Method 1# Fix Corrupt PST file Using Inbuilt Repair Tool

• Search and launch the scanpst.exe application in c drive of your computer
• Select the corrupt PST file and click on the Start button
• Select Make backup of scanned file before repairing option
• Provide a location to save the PST backup
• Click on the Repair key

Limitations of SCANPST:

1. It works directly on your original PST file, so you have to back up the file before starting the repair action. In case, you don't backup the file, the probability of data loss (further corruption/damage) is more.

2. This tool cannot repair severely corrupted PST file.

So, how to fix a corrupt PST file effectively in an easier way? Well, here is the answer.

Method 2# Yodot to Repair the Corrupt PST File:

Yodot Outlook PST Repair tool can easily fix your corrupt or damaged PST file on any Windows computer. This tool is designed with vigorous unique algorithms, so it doesn’t affect your file during the repair process. It just replicates the corrupt file and works on it. Thus, your source file is safe. The application repairs password protected, encrypted, inaccessible, damaged etc. PST files created by MS Outlook 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 editions. Along with repairing the corrupt PST file, the tool can recover its attributes like contacts, journals, notes, calendar etc. With the handy interface and excellent technical guidance offered by the tool, even novice user can easily repair a PST file.

How to Repair Corrupt PST File?

Step 1: Close Outlook application if it is running and run Yodot Outlook PST Repair software on your system. Select any one among these three options,

• Open PST File: Opt it, if you know the PST file location
• Find PST File: Choose this to find and select the PST file
• Select Outlook Profile: Choose this option to select PST file if you have multiple Outlook profiles

Step 2: Now choose either Normal Scan (to fix minor PST file corruptions) or Smart Scan (to repair severely corrupted PST file). Mention the destination location to save your repaired PST file. Click on Repair button.

Step 3: As the repair process finishes, repaired PST file contents will be displayed in an Outlook styled menu. Select entire or desired items and save the PST file.

Common Reasons for PST File Corruption:

Generally, PST file corruption can happen due to various reasons:

• The most common reason that causes PST file corruption is closing or terminating the Outlook application abruptly when it is still processing or finalizing unsaved data. This could be done deliberately by clicking End Task button in Windows task manager or may happen accidentally due to sudden shutdown of the PC or due to power failure
• Even though newer versions of Outlook support large sized PST, it is recommended to keep your PST file size in control. Since most of the data integrity problems start due to oversized PST file
• Another main reason could be, severe virus infection that may make your PST file inaccessible
• File system corruption due to OS reinstallation, OS up-gradation tends to cause corruption or inaccessibility of the PST file
• Improper up-gradation of Outlook may also make PST files corrupt