Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Reasons why Scanpst Fails

Microsoft Outlook implies the concept of centralized data storage when storing its data. The single file it generates is PST, which is vulnerable to several corruption risks. These include unexpected power failure, large PST size, network sharing and numerous other factors. To overcome such corruption scenarios and to get back your data, you should run Outlook provided Scanpst tool. It proves efficient in repairing PST in many cases, but can fail as well. Also termed as Inbox Repair Tool, it can fix PST corruption mostly when it is related to file header. In other situations, the tool can run out, which asks for more powerful repair solutions to repair your damaged PST.

Why Scanpst.exe fails?

The way Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) works is not meant to repair the corrupt PST completely. It basically repairs the damaged PST header and go for item-wise recovery.

The PST header gets damaged usually when you upgrade your Outlook version, say from Outlook 2002 to Outlook 2003. The Inbox Repair Tool can work well in this case. Now, suppose a condition when the data inside the file is damaged. At this point, running the tool will delete the corrupted data instead of repairing it. The Scan PST will destroy everything that it finds beyond understanding, leaving the file in an unstable state. Thus, it is recommended to run the tool on a copy of PST rather than applying it directly on affected PST.

Another limitation of Inbox Repair Tool is that it cannot repair the PST that is beyond its maximum file size value. Microsoft suggests repairing such file by first cropping through PST crop tool. But this again sets in data loss situations as the tool deletes the email messages and truncate the file. Also, the corrupted file may fail to open with this tool.

Third-party PST repair tools

The commercial PST file repair applications use most sophisticated technology to repair your Outlook PST. The software can work in each set of problem, which is beyond the repair of capabilities of Scanpst tool. Such tools provide you easy file repair through a well-organized user interface.

For best PST file repair results, you should use Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair. It is an advanced repair tool for corrupted PST files created with Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. The software recovers all emails, notes, calendars, contacts, journals etc. The Scan PST tool works safely and quickly in all corruption scenarios.

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