Recovering Outlook Data From Backups of PST Files
When you work with an email account on the Microsoft Exchange Server and are keeping copies of the Outlook data on your local computer, you are either working with Offline Folders that need constant synchronization with the folder on the server or you are using Personal Folders file or PST files. Whatever the file you are using, they will contain important Outlook data such as contacts, address book, tasks, notes and of course, all your email messages. Given the importance of these files, you should know how to take regular backups and more crucially, how you can repair these files if they get damaged so that you can have a successful outlook recovery.
If the PST file you are working with becomes damaged, you should be able to repair it using an Inbox Repair tool that comes in-built with Microsoft Outlook. However, this is effective if the damage or corruption to the PST file is limited. In fact, when the Outlook application faces any problem while opening or accessing the PST file, it immediately asks if the Inbox Repair tool should be run. When the damage or corruption to the PST file is significant though, the Inbox Repair Tool might prove insufficient to repair all the errors and you may have to fall back on your backups to conduct an outlook recovery. Let us take a closer look at these two situations.
There may be times when you start Outlook and try to access your folders only to be shown the message - Unable to expand the folder. This will be followed by a message indicating that an error might have been found in the PST file and that the Inbox Repair tool should be run. In the first run, the Inbox Repair tool merely identifies the errors in the file and displays the list to you. Once you indicate that the file should be repaired, it starts the repair process and carries out an outlook recovery. The only difficulty in using the Inbox Repair tool is that it is not easily available from the main menu options of Outlook and one has to search for the ScanPST.exe file before running it.
When the damage or corruption to the PST file is more substantial, you might again face the same set of problems. You might be unable to open Outlook and access your folders. However, in this case, even if you run the Inbox Repair tool, you might be unable to repair the file and the errors will persist. You can use the Data File Management option to remove the PST file that has been damaged and indicate which backup file should be used as the new PST file.
In those rare sitautions where neither the Inbox Repair tool works and you find that your backups have been damaged as well, you can turn to alternate recovery methods. Third-party software such as Advanced Outlook Repair from DataNumen can scan deeply damaged PST files and carry out a successful outlook recovery. These tools minimize data loss and ensure that all your important information stays secure.