PST Corrupted after Renaming on a CD

Pst Repair - Personal Storage Table or .pst files are used as local copies of Outlook email messages, calendar events, notes and other items. Since the files are stored on local computers, they can be easily carried over an external storage media. This include USB media, network share and CD. But the files are subjected to corruption if its structure changes repeatedly. Thus, to ensure reliable data storage, it is suggested to maintain proper file backup. However, if the file gets corrupted while no suitable backup is present, you can repair it using Scanpst.exe tool or third-party PST Recovery software.

For example, you can consider the below scenario:

1-You rename the Outlook.pst file to Outlook.bak and backup it on a CD
2-You reformat the original drive
3-You rename the file back to Outlook.pst and restore it
4-When you attempt to open the file, it fails and returns an error as below:

“The file c:\\Outlook.pst is not a personal folders file.”

The error occurs even when you try to open the file in same version of Outlook in which it was originally created.


Cause

This error occurs because Outlook cannot recognize the PST file as it is corrupt. PST can get corrupted if made to undergo regular data storage and file structure changes. The storage media regains a new storage structure each time it is formatted. In this case, you have restored the file to a basically new storage structure that has corrupted the file.

Solution

You can repair the damaged .pst file using Outlook Inbox Repair Tool. To run the tool, you need to follow these steps:

1-Enable the 'Show hidden files and folders' setting
2-Click Start | Search or Find
3-In Search window, click 'All files and folders' and type 'scanpst.exe'
4-Click to search
5-Double-click the Scanpst.exe file thus located
6-Browse to the location of corrupted .pst file or you can directly specify the file path
7-Click Start
8-Exit the tool after it completes

Check if Outlook can now open the file. If the problem continues, you need to opt for better solutions. There are various PST Repair software that can repair a damaged .pst file despite of the reason. PST Recovery utilities are effective tool built with advanced repair technology. Such tools provide you interactive user interface and thus, can be easily implemented.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is a fully-competent and reliable tool with powerful features to repair damaged or corrupted PST file. It is a safe PST Repair tool with support to Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. The software is easy-to-use with self-descriptive interface. It recovers and restores all PST file objects at a safe location.