When Your Outlook PST File Goes Bad

It tends to happen to a lot of people who use Outlook on a regular basis, and it never seems to happen to those who actually back up their files: one day your .pst file becomes corrupted or damaged in some way. This causes Outlook to spit error messages out at you, you can't open your email, send things, and everything is all gummed up.

The way Microsoft stores all your information is that it is all contained in the one file. PST stands for personal storage table. This is where all of your email, contacts, journal entries, calendar entries, and more are stored. Obviously it's not good to lose all of this information!

If you're faced with the problem of a corrupt file then you should know that there are solutions out there. You can try using the scanpst.exe application that comes loaded with Outlook. It's not that straightforward, but a simple Google search will tell you what to do. Usually the steps involve simply locating the scanpst.exe program as well as the location of your mail file.

If the scanpst.exe does not work, there are some third party applications that are able to extract usable data from your damaged PST file and then rebuild it into a new one. These programs are often only available for purchase, but it's a small price to pay to get your data back.

Why do PST files get corrupted? There are a number of ways that files can get corrupted, however it can be sometimes hard to pinpoint exactly what happened to yours. Obviously something such as pulling out a USB drive while it's still in use, or shutting down a computer while it's saving your PST will damage the file and corrupt it. Sometimes viruses and malware are to blame as well.

Once you solve whatever problem you've been having and get yourself back on track with a repaired or new file, then you should ensure that you're always backing up your files! This is easy to do. Just find your PST file location, and then make a copy of it to a secure location. Ideally this secure location will be a physically separate drive, either on the same computer or a USB or external hard drive. This is a great practice that will ensure you have access to your emails if anything happens to the file again, or if anything should happen such as a hard drive failure.

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