# Fixing a corrupted outlook.pst file **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-a-corrupted-outlook-pst-file/512391 "2009-10-02T20:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-a-corrupted-outlook-pst-file/512391/1 "2009-10-02T20:39:56Z")
I have a 1.4GB Outlook 2007 .pst file that was fubar’d in a power outage, and won’t open with Outlook any more. I have tried the Microsoft Scanpst.exe that comes with Outlook, but it terminates with the message , “An error has occurred which cause the scan to be stopped. No changes have been made to the file” I purchased a .pst repair tool called [Outlook Recovery Toolbox](http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/outlook.html)($49), but it only recovered 265k of the 1.4GB file. Dose anybody have any experience with a reliable .pst recovery tool that they can recommend? I don’t want to keep ponying up cash for tools that don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-a-corrupted-outlook-pst-file/512391/2 "2009-10-02T23:49:50Z")
There’s some free tools with office that may (or may not) help [Microsoft Support](http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/ha010563001033.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-a-corrupted-outlook-pst-file/512391/3 "2009-10-02T23:57:43Z")
probably this won’t help but you might get lucky. try opening in a different PC. go back to a previous restore point and try again. IIRC, 1 gig is the recommended maximum pst file size with exchange 2003. ---
**Author:** ![ianjohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ianjohnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianjohnson)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-a-corrupted-outlook-pst-file/512391/4 "2009-10-03T00:02:20Z")
I had the best luck with R-Mail. The various Outlook recovery programs out there definitely differ in their abilities. Most of them have free trials that will let you see what they recovered before you pay to access the full emails. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-a-corrupted-outlook-pst-file/512391/5 "2009-10-03T00:09:58Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > There’s some free tools with office that may (or may not) help [Your request has been blocked. This could be due to several reasons.](http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/ha010563001033.aspx) I tried the MS utility. No joy. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > probably this won’t help but you might get lucky. try opening in a different PC. go back to a previous restore point and try again. > > IIRC, 1 gig is the recommended maximum pst file size with exchange 2003. I transferred it to another computer. No joy. Outlook 2007 has a [default maximum .pst size of 20GB.](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940226) > [@ianjohnson](#): > > I had the best luck with R-Mail. > > The various Outlook recovery programs out there definitely differ in their abilities. Most of them have free trials that will let you see what they recovered before you pay to access the full emails. I have tried four other programs with uniformly unipressive results. I will definitely give R-Mail a try. Thanks for the input everybody.