Causes:

Microsoft Outlook PST files are prone to corruption owing to various reasons including:

·     File sharing over a networked drive

·     Unexpected shutdown

·     Disrupted compaction

·     File header corruption

·     Virus infection

·     CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) error

·     Exiting Microsoft Outlook abruptly

Resolution:

·     Using the Inbox Repair Tool: For effective Outlook Recovery and to fix corrupted PST files, you can use the Inbox Repair Tool. It works by repairing the PST file’s header and then deleting anything in the file that it doesn’t understand. So if a PST file’s header is damaged, as may be the case for corruption that occurs during a version upgrade, the tool should have no trouble making the repair. But if the data within the file is corrupt, the Inbox Repair tool will probably destroy what’s left of the file. That’s why, it’s always good to backup the PST file before running the Inbox Repair tool.

·     Opting for a third-party Microsoft Outlook Recovery software: is a sure-shot way to repair corrupted or broken PST files of Microsoft Outlook and restore them at a user-specified or default location. These tool generally save the data in a new Outlook-usable PST, which the user can import in MS Outlook to access the PST content.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair Software is one such powerful Outlook Recovery tool supports recovery of PST files created in MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000 and NT4 (SP6), this software also provides recovery of deleted emails from Deleted Items folder and all the emails which had been permanently deleted.

Reasons of MS Outlook PST Corruption:

There are various application and system factors, which may damage the PST file and make it unusable. Some of the most frequent and common causes of MS Outlook PST corruption are as given below:

·     Virus Infection- Viruses are malicious programs, which infect and corrupt your PST file and make it inaccessible. Viruses may enter your system by several means, including Internet, virus infected attachment, and connecting virus infected removable media. You should always  use an updated and advanced anti-virus application to regularly scan your PST file.

·     Oversized PST File- In Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions, you cannot have a PST file more than 2 GB in size. If it exceeds the 2 GB size limit, it gets damaged and you can not access data from it.

·     Improper Termination of Outlook Application- You should close the Outlook application gracefully after saving all the changes you made to PST file and clicking ‘Exit’ menu item. But, if Outlook shuts down improperly while your PST file is in use, there are strong chances of PST file corruption. Improper termination can be due to operating system crash, power outages, and using ‘End Task’ option from Windows Task Manager.

·     MS Outlook Application Deficiencies- Every application has deficiencies, therefore does MS Outlook. Some of these deficiencies come from short sights of developers. Generally they are expected to be fixed, but can not be fixed simply using patches or fixes.

In order to fix PST file corruption and perform Microsoft Outlook recovery, Outlook has an inbuilt tool, called Inbox Repair Tool. However, this tool has a limitation that it cannot fix PST file corruption, caused by external reasons, like virus infection and improper termination of Outlook application. In such cases, need of Outlook recovery software arises.

The applications are incorporated with powerful and advanced scanning methods to throughly scan entire PST file and extract all inaccessible data from it. The Outlook recovery utilities are totally safe and easy to use.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is the best PST repair software ever made, which works in all PST corruption scenarios. The software is designed particularly for Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. It is capable of restoring all PST file objects, including emails, notes, contacts, tasks, journal, and calendar entries.

Reasons of corruption:

There could be various reasons for PST corruption that could either be hardware as well as software reasons. Such reasons are collated for you in the following points:

· Hardware reasons:

◦ Power failure: A power failure may lead to PST corruption as Outlook is exited abruptly.

◦ Data storage device failure: It may be possible that the location where the PST file is stored has bad sectors, which leads to PST corruption.

◦ Faulty networking device: If the PST is on a server computer and you are accessing it from a client computer, then faulty hardware components may cause the PST to get corrupted.

· Software reasons:

◦ Deficiencies in Outlook programs: Some bugs in Outlook may result in PST corruption. For example, the Outlook versions before Outlook 2003 used to get corrupt as soon as their size crossed 2 GB.

◦ Incorrect file system recovery: Sometimes when you recover the file system, it is not recovered properly, which may lead to PST corruption.

◦ Virus or other malicious software: Certain viruses are designed to corrupt the PST files.

◦ Terminate Outlook abruptly: If Outlook is exited abnormally, then there are chances that the PST file may get corrupt.

Resolution:

To resolve the PST file corruption, you should use the in-built Inbox Repair (Scanpst.exe) tool. This tool is able to verify and correct errors in the internal data structures of PST file. However, if you still are not able to repair the corrupted PST file then you should use a third-party Microsoft Outlook recovery software to do the needful for you. Such read-only tools are able to recover Outlook objects without overwriting the original contents.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair( http://www.microsoftoutlook-recovery.com ) is an Outlook recovery software that successfully restores corrupted PST files. It supports MS Outlook 2010 (Beta), 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. This MS Outlook recovery software is able to recover Outlook objects, such as emails, contacts, calendar entries, journals, tasks, meetings notes, etc. In addition, this tool is able to preserve the formatting of the RTF and HTML messages. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000.