If you’ve ever used Microsoft Outlook, you know how important PST files are. Personal Storage Table or PST file is an Outlook data file that contains all your emails, contacts, tasks, calendar entries, and other mailbox items on the local storage. Like other data files, PST files can get corrupted. It can get corrupted due to various internal and external factors, such as disk errors where the file is stored, and sudden system shutdown or crash, etc.
If your PST file gets corrupted, it is not a major cause of concern as Microsoft, along with Outlook installation, provides ScanPST to repair PST files. But what if the ScanPST fails to repair the PST file?
Don’t worry, in this blog post, I’ll walk you through alternative ways to repair PST files without ScanPST, in a friendly, step‑by‑step manner.
Reasons why ScanPST Fails to Repair PST Files
ScanPST or Inbox Repair Tool is suitable resolving minor corruption and other issues in the PST file. It has certain limitations due to which it fails to repair the PST file. These are:
- It cannot repair large or oversized PST files.
- It may fail to repair severely corrupted PST files.
- It cannot repair encrypted or password-protected PST files.
- Outlook is running during repair.
Solution to Repair PST File without ScanPST
As mentioned above, the ScanPST may fail to repair the PST file due to its limitations. So, what is the alternative? The best alternative is to use a more advanced PST repair tool. The name you can consider is Stellar Repair for Outlook. This PST repair tool has powerful algorithms that are capable of repairing highly corrupted PST files, irrespective of the file size.
After repairing the file, it saves the mailbox items to a new, fresh PST file. Moreover, this tool has an auto-split option that automatically splits large PST files into multiple smaller files so as to prevent corruption in the future. It also allows saving the repaired PST file items in numerous commonly-used file formats, such as EML, MSG, RTF, HTML, and PDF.
Let’s see how to use Stellar Repair for Outlook to repair the corrupted PST file.
- First, download the software from the official website:
- Then, install the software. Once the installation is complete, launch it.
- Select List Profiles on the List Configured Profiles window. The software will automatically fetch the PST file linked to your Outlook account from the default location.
- You can select the option “Choose Manually” to browse and select the PST file from any other location.
- After selecting the PST file, click on Repair. The scanning process will start. Let the scan process to complete.
- Now, you will see all the mailbox items of the repaired PST file. You can preview any mailbox item by clicking on it.
- Next, click on Save Repaired File. In the Save As window, select the file format as PST and then click on Next.
- Browse the location where you want to save the repaired PST file in the Select Destination window. Select the Recovered Deleted Items and Auto Split File options as per your preference and click OK.
You will find the repaired PST file at the selected location on your system. You can now import this file into your Outlook profile by using the Import and Export wizard.
ScanPST vs Stellar Repair for Outlook – A Quick Comparison
| Feature / Capability | ScanPST (Inbox Repair Tool) | Stellar Repair for Outlook |
| Repairing Capability | Fixes only minor corruption issues | Repairs even severely corrupted PST files with ease |
| File Size Limit | Freezes/hangs when repairing large PST files. Even fail to repair large files | No file-size limitation. Repairs large PST files efficiently |
| Repairing Encrypted / Password-Protected PSTs | Not supported | Fully supported |
| Recovery of Deleted Items | Not possible | Recovers deleted emails, contacts, calendars, etc. |
| Recovery Accuracy | May skip unreadable data blocks | Recovers all accessible data without any loss |
| File Preview after Repair | Not available | Provides a full preview of mailbox items after repair |
| Auto Split Large PSTs | Not supported | Supports auto-split to manage large file sizes |
| Saving Options | Saves only to PST | Saves to PST, EML, MSG, PDF, HTML, RTF, etc. |
| Ease of Use | Basic and manual | User-friendly interface with guided steps |
| Log File Generation | Minimal diagnostic logs | Detailed scan logs for tracking and reference |
Final Words
Microsoft’s built-in tool, ScanPST, is useful for repairing PST files, but it has limitations that cause it to fail to repair them. For instance, it cannot repair large, badly damaged, or corrupted PST files. So, if you’ve tried ScanPST and it fails to fix the PST file, then there’s only one option – use a professional PST repair tool, like Stellar Repair for Outlook.
It is a reliable and efficient tool that can repair severely corrupted PST files without any limitations on size. With advanced features, like selective recovery, preview options, and support for encrypted files, this tool is a perfect option when it comes to repairing a PST file without ScanPST.
