[Alex Ethridge]

PST file is 2,061,760 bytes in size (over the 2G limit).

Error returned on attempting to open PST file with Outlook 2000:
Outlook could not open the file containing the folders used to send and receive e-mail messages, create appointments and open the address book. Please select from the options listed below:
• create a new personal files folder
• open an existing personal files folder

Error returned on attempting to open PST file in Outlook 2003:
Errors have been detected in the file [path] Outlook.pst. Quit Outlook and all mail-enabled applications and then use the inbox repair tool (ScanPST.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. For more information about the Inbox repair tool, see Help.

Error returned on attempting to repair with ScanPST:
An error occurred which caused the scan to be stopped. No changes have been made to the scanned file.

Outlook.PST log file: Fatal Error: 80040900

After using the PST2GB and on running ScanPST:
An error has occurred which caused the repair tool to be stopped. Some modifications may have been made to the scanned file.

Upon attempting to open the PST file after the above attempted repair:
Error message: The file path\Outlook.pst is not compatible with this version of Personal Folders information service. Contact your administrator.

[EAFiedler]

Hi Alex Ethridge

Can you make a copy of the Outlook 2000 .pst file and copy it to a machine with Outlook 2003, to see if it can open it?
From there, if it is successful, it can be divided into two smaller .pst files (compatible with Outlook 2000).

[Alex Ethridge]

Did that already as noted above. I just didn't state it was on a different machine.

Do you know if there is anything built into Office 2007 that might help?

[EAFiedler]

Oops, sorry, missed that and of course it would have to be on a different machine, Doh!

Did you make a copy of the .pst file before running all the scan tools on it?

Just some thoughts:

The machine containing Outlook 2003 is formatted as NTFS?

Were you able to connect the .pst file to Outlook 2003, successfully, and then received the error message when you attempted to access the Personal Folders?

Are you connecting the .pst file to Outlook 2003 as the Default Delivery Location or as a secondary Personal Folder?

Can you run an Advanced Find on the Personal Folder?

Wow! I located some software that can recover the contents from .pst files, but they want $249.95 for their software!

[Alex Ethridge]

Yes, NTFS.

I did make and still have the original, unmodified PST file.

Error returned on attempting to open PST file in Outlook 2003:
Errors have been detected in the file [path] Outlook.pst. Quit Outlook and all mail-enabled applications and then use the inbox repair tool (ScanPST.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. For more information about the Inbox repair tool, see Help.

Advanced Find? I don't think so. Outlook will not open the file at all.

I think I found that same $249 program. I might be willing to pay for a program; but, I came up in computers when Windows 3.1 and other software I paid good money for didn't work well or at all and I developed a policy after being robbed blind my incompetent developers that I will NEVER again pay for software until I can VERIFY that it actually does what the people trying to get my money says it does.

I do already have EasyRecovery 6.20; but, there is no success with it, either.

[Alex Ethridge]

Ran EasyRecovery 6 (not 6.2) and got some mail to display. Also, some mail folders either show as empty or don't show as being present. Example: inbox is present but shows as empty when I know there should be hundreds of messages in it..

[EAFiedler]

Have you tried running Scandisk.exe then follow that with Scanpst.exe, repeating this 3 to 4 times as this link shows:?
http://www.slipstick.com/problems/scanpst.asp

Here are more suggestions:
http://www.slipstick.com/problems/repair2gbpst.asp

[Alex Ethridge]

Scandisk will not run on NT and up; but, there are no errors in the file table so that isn't the problem.

As for running ScanPST several times until there is no error, it doesn't matter how many times I run it, it aborts at the same point with the same error message every time, also stating that no changes were made to the file.

Advanced Outlook Recovery ($250) seems to recover "From", "Subject, "Date" etc; but, that is with the demo so I don't get to see the actual messages. Maybe they are there and maybe not. $250 is no small change and I'll see if the client is willing to foot the bill.

[Alex Ethridge]

I just made a comparison of sorts between the recovery made with the tools I have already and the $250 Advanced Outlook Recovery tool. It seems the tools I have here already have recovered 2589 messages but the folder names don't agree with the original set of folders.

Advanced Outlook Recovery shows to have recovered 2393 messages (204 fewer than above) and the folder names seem to agree with what was there before the crash.

I have attached an image. My guess is that the Advanced program is probably more accurate on the count and that the other method is putting false positives into the count simply because it is a less sophisticated method.

In the free method, there is a folder named 8082 that didn't exist in the original and it contains 1044 messages.

I'll offer the client the option whether he wants to re-sort all these mails into proper folders or pay for the other program that seems to do it for him.

[Alex Ethridge]

Well, images seem to be not getting through again. I saw its link in the preview and it isn't in the post.

I'll try again here.

[EAFiedler]

Originally Posted by Alex Ethridge

Scandisk will not run on NT and up; but, there are no errors in the file table so that isn't the problem.

In the last paragraph, the link stated, for NTFS, to open the drive and use the Tools Menu commands to scan the disk.
Don't let the trees keep you from seeing the forest, this method is to help repair the .pst file, it doesn't necessarily mean there are errors on the hard drive itself.


Another thought, Is Outlook Express installed on the machine containing Outlook 2000?
If so, have you tried Importing messages from Outlook 2000 into Outlook Express?

[Alex Ethridge]

The machine where this corruption originally took place was a Vista system running Outlook (and Office) 2000. Anyway, I'm going to accept the result I have here and let the client sort his mail or buy the $250 program. I already have more hours in this than he'll pay for.

I'm marking this thread solved as I don't care to work with it any more.

Thanks for all the input.