MS Outlook has become one of the most popular and used email client applications among many organizations. Outlook comes up with multiple facilities and additional features and is capable to sync with the Exchange server which creates OST files. This might be possible that during the synchronization process, the OST file gets damaged or corrupted. That’s the reason users want to repair corrupt OST file quickly so that their important data will remain accessible. OST is a short term used for Offline Storage Table. In this blog, we will provide you with an easy solution to repair OST file without any hassle.
But before moving further, let’s see what are the possible reasons for corruption of the OST file.
There are several limitations as well with these manual techniques of repairing. Some of the limitations are listed below -
As we have seen above, there are several limitations with manual methods. To avoid those limitations, you can use any third-party expert software which provides a wide range of features and can securely recover all your damaged or Corrupted OST files. I suggest you use Data Recovery Solution’s OST recovery tool which is the most reliable and trustable software in the market. The software provides a user-friendly interface and can be used easily. Some additional features of the software are listed below.
But before moving further, let’s see what are the possible reasons for corruption of the OST file.
Reasons for OST file Corruption
There are numerous reasons for the corruption of OST files. Some of the most common reasons are listed below -- Virus or Malware attacks.
- Network Issues.
- Power Failure.
- Bad sectors on hard drives.
- Data Storage device failure.
- Oversized OST file.
- Header File corruption.
- Cannot start windows Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook windows.
- Cannot open the specific Outlook items when offline.
- Cannot access the default email folders, the file xx.ost is an offline folder file
Manual Methods to Repair corrupt OST File
Method 1: Recreating OST File
Follow the below-listed steps to recreate the OST files -- Go to the Control panel and click on the Mail option.
- Select Profile Name and go to the properties.
- Click on Email accounts and select the Account settings option.
- Click on data files and browse to define the file path.
- In Outlook data files, choose Open file location to open the desired file location.
- Now, close the account settings box. Delete the particular corrupted OST file. The next time you open the Outlook application, you get to see a new .ost file is created for the account.
Method 2: Use In-Built MS Outlook Inbox Repair Tool
MS Outlook provides an in-built inbox repair tool to fix minor corruption issues. Also known as the ScanOST.exe tool. The Inbox Repair tool is absolutely free to use. Follow the below step by step process to repair the corrupt OST file.- Double click on ScanPST.exe/ ScanOST.exe
- Browse and choose the corrupted OST file that you want to repair.
- When you find an issue, click on Repair to start the scanning process.
- Wait for the scanning process to complete
There are several limitations as well with these manual techniques of repairing. Some of the limitations are listed below -
Limitations
- Capable of fixing minor corruption issues only.
- Requires good technical knowledge.
- Unable to repair password encrypted files.
- Huge risk of Data loss.
- Slow repairing process.
Automated Solution to Repair Corrupt OST file
Features
- Recovers the corrupt OST files and converts them to MBOX, MSG, PST, and many other file formats.
- Offers three recovery modes - Standard, Advanced and Deep mode.
- Provides Preview before the recovery process.
- Supports all the latest versions of MS Outlook and MS-Windows
- No file size limitation
- Recovers Outlook data items such as Calendars, contacts, emails, tasks, etc.
- Provides date range feature.
