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Summary: Outlook XP and earlier have a limit of 2gigabytes on the size of its PST file. However there's no warning, only problems, if you exceed that limit. My PST has grown over 2gig, and now I can't repair it. What do I do? In an earlier article, What can I do about Outlook's huge PST? I discussed how to use multiple PSTs and other techniques to manage the size of Outlook's email personal storage files, known as PST files. That article was mostly about the inconvenience of managing large files, and mentioned in passing that there's a 2 gigabyte limit to Outlook's PST. As it turns out it is possible to create a PST that's larger than 2 gigabytes. Unfortunately that's where the trouble starts. • The problem manifests when you start Outlook and it complains about the PST, typically instructing you to use the Inbox Repair Tool. Step one is to do exactly that. You can read more about the Inbox Repair Tool, called scanpst in this Microsoft Knowledgebase Article. If that tool completes successfully and the problem does not reoccur, you should examine the size of your PST and determine if some of the steps in the earlier article are called for. If scanpst fails and the PST file is at or over 2 gigabytes (2,147,483,648 bytes) in size then you have a problem; you are going to lose some email. Microsoft has made available an Oversized PST and OST Crop Tool. The crop tool does just that: it crops, or cuts, the size of the PST file by a specified amount to make it smaller. It makes it small enough to run scanpst on which can recover the contents of the PST. Any messages in the portion of the PST that was cut is lost. The lesson here is to keep an eye on the size of your PST. While it would be nice if Outlook actually prevented PSTs from growing beyond the limits Outlook can handle it may not, and obviously it can result in lost messages. Make sure to have a decent backup strategy and keep an eye on your PST size. Related:
Article 179 | Posted April 9, 2004 |
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Hi i have the same proble if I try and find my file to do a reduction or scanpst I cannot access it. It is like the file is hidden or invisible. Is this a virus or am I being silly? If you could come back I would be really grateful as this is screwing my life up!
thanks
Posted by: Jason at November 10, 2006 9:48 AMJason UK
Hi, I don't know whether is the same problem, but I am using MS Outlook 2003 and I have two folders, the first one is used to receive the actual emails, and second one is used to archive the email already read. So, I was unable to close the archive folder, because a message "the operation failed. An object could not be found" appears. It is not possible to compress as well. Note: The second folder has more than 2gb, it is about 2.5GB. According to the any other forums and articles, it seems that the problem could be on Outlook 2002 and below, not Outlook 2003. I also used the SCANPST, in order to fix it, but it didn't work. Do you have any idea how to solve it? Thanks.
Posted by: John at December 22, 2006 4:02 AMEvenif you open it in Outlook 2003, the file is still using the old brokwn Outlook format. Only PSTs *created* by Outlook 2003 and later avoid the limitation.
Posted by: Leo Notenboom at December 22, 2006 8:29 AMOK..it could be...but I don't have any problem to access this folder (over 2gb)...I can access normally, the problem is that the folder doesn't want to be closed...do you think that the size is the problem? Do know the way to solve it? May I need to define a new proflile? If so, how can I do to copy the contacts and the rules already defined? thanks
Posted by: John at December 22, 2006 11:41 AMI seems like it could be size related. Perhaps this article would be a place to start: http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_upgrade_my_outlook_pst_to_2003_format.html
Posted by: Leo Notenboom at December 22, 2006 5:22 PMHi Leo, I will try it, however, I copied this same folder (over 2gb) in other directory and I add into Outlook, it seems that it works fine and I got to close it. So, I am thinking that there is something corrputed, but I don't know how to fix it. It also seems that the size is not the problem at this moment. I have already executed the detect and repair and it didn't work. Just for more information, this folder work fine, I can access all the email. As I said, I cannot close this folder and to compact it.
Posted by: John at December 23, 2006 1:11 AMThank you for helping on this issue.
Hi Leo, in the meatime, I used the repair and I requested to restore the default configuration. So, I needed to create a new profile. So, after it, I think that it worked, because I don't have more the folder (over 2gb). Now, I can add and close this folder. Note: This folder is created as PST 97 and 2002. Do you think that I need to convert it to 2003 pst? Do you know why I don't have the same problem than the other people that is using folder over 2gb? thanks.
Posted by: John at December 23, 2006 1:23 AMTo recover your emails from oversized pst file try using Repair PST software from http://www.repairpst.net
Posted by: Felina at January 3, 2007 9:00 PMYou can try best pst file recovery tool at http://www.recoveryfix.com/repair-pst-file.html
Posted by: Naveen at September 10, 2007 2:00 AMI recently had to reformat my PC. I exported my emails from Outlook 2003. Now I am trying to import and although the file is not empty it makes no attempt to import to Outlook. I have tried the recovery sofware mentioned but it says the file is empty! I NEED the folders back with my email. Can anyone help please?
Posted by: Shirley Parry at February 26, 2008 12:15 AM