PST 2gb+ outlook problem

[fin23]

hi all


I have a problem as the title states.

Got a customer who is still using outlook 2000, they have never deleted an email by the looks of it and now they have hit the 2GB brick wall. Unable to open their mail box and outlook is misbihaving.

I have already tried to the official M$ repair and scan tools, i even shaved of 150mb of the file to get the PST under 2GB, all to no avail.

At this stage I am going to install a newer version of outlook as the file size problems go away with later versions but i have a nasty feeling that newer outlook will not open older PST's - especially PST's over 2GB.

Does anybody know of any software or other email clients that will open, view or in anyway allow me to get access to the mail?

I have tried a couple of demos, stellar outlook and split pst file but they all seen far to much like malware for my liking. Both are paid for apps and i would hesitate to pay anything to these companies. Reviews on the net not too good either,

Any help would be great, the client is staring down the barrel of losing years of emails... (just wish they'd emptied the trash now and again)

TIA

 

[14049752]

Despite the frustration, profanity (even if it is misspelled) isn't really acceptable on a forum intended for professionals.


I'd try importing into Thunderbird to get the old mail. I've actually converted many outlook users to Thunderbird because of the 2GB limit. Unless they're die-hard "must use outlook" people, they're almost always happy to convert if it means not needing to delete things. One guy had all of his e-mail from the last 13 years...and wouldn't delete any of it. Some people are just e-mail hoarders, for whatever reason....

 

[Sn@Ke]

Yep import it into thunderbird. If it works in thunderbird you can be sure it will import into the new versions of outlook (I've also done this heaps of times)

See if they are happy with thunderbird otherwise let them buy the latest outlook or office suite with outlook (some versions dont come with it)

Plus I don't see what the big deal is with saying what you did in the title, If it offends people I feel sorry for how sheltered they must be.

 

[glricht]

At this stage I am going to install a newer version of outlook as the file size problems go away with later versions but i have a nasty feeling that newer outlook will not open older PST's - especially PST's over 2GB.

I've got a customer using Outlook 2003 whose PST was huge, IIRC it was 6GB+ Outlook worked OK, but it sure was slow!

Assuming the PST hasn't been corrupted, my guess is that a more recent Outlook will read it just fine. Why not copy the PST to another PC that has a newer Outlook and give it try. My bet is that it will work just fine.

 

[PR Tech]

Give this a try. Search your computer for "scanpst.exe". Run this tool and open the .pst file that has hit the 2GB barrier. It is possible that after it competes, it will at least allow you to then open Outlook to remove items from the deleted or sent folders.

 

[fin23]

Yep import it into thunderbird. If it works in thunderbird you can be sure it will import into the new versions of outlook (I've also done this heaps of times)

See if they are happy with thunderbird otherwise let them buy the latest outlook or office suite with outlook (some versions dont come with it)

Plus I don't see what the big deal is with saying what you did in the title, If it offends people I feel sorry for how sheltered they must be.

I was under the impression that thunderbird could not import the 2gb file.. if it can i will try that first. It may well be corrupt, outlook screws it. I have the microsoft tools to attempt the repair & go from there.



Offensive title.. really.. if i used the words "Bloody devil of a PST" would certain people claim it was offensive, daft.

Not interested in discussing any religious fiction on the thread, lets keep the topic in the real world.
I was after ideas regarding my problem, which some users are helping me with and i fully appreciate.


Thanks for you help so far people!

 

[Bryce W]

Ive encountered this before. It had something to do with Unicode. From what I remember, I imported it into an Outlook 2003 or later version which converts it to the new format (Unicode) which supports 2gb+ databases. Here we go:
http://www.datanumen.com/aexr/problems/2gb-ost.htm

The solution would be to upgrade them to 2003 or later and import/convert the database.

 

[Blues]

Up to Outlook 2007 a .PST file was limited to 1.7 GB, MS documentation says 2 GB, in Outlook 2010 this has been increased to 20 GB. I have seen that the primary file in 2003 and 2007 we allowed to grow beyond the 2GB limit but MS does not support it beyond that size.

 

[fin23]

Ive encountered this before. It had something to do with Unicode. From what I remember, I imported it into an Outlook 2003 or later version which converts it to the new format (Unicode) which supports 2gb+ databases. Here we go:
http://www.datanumen.com/aexr/problems/2gb-ost.htm

The solution would be to upgrade them to 2003 or later and import/convert the database.

Thanks mate, i think thats gonna have to be my next option, Tried repairing the PST, keeps failing with a generic error.

Can't import the PST into thunderbird as thunderbird imports from outlook - as i cant open the PST in outlook - I'm stuffed. (unless someone knows otherwise)

 

[cyabro]

I've had the exact same problem and did manage to fix it.
I used a program that I can't remember the name of right now.
It's on the workshop pc so will check on Monday and let you know.

 

[fin23]

I've had the exact same problem and did manage to fix it.
I used a program that I can't remember the name of right now.
It's on the workshop pc so will check on Monday and let you know.

Thanks mate, that would be a great help.

Can't repair or shrink the PST its corruption is deep it seems.

Gonna install office 2k7 and try :/

 

[cyabro]

Yea I tried the shrink thing too but got nowhere.

 

[cyabro]

The Software is called Recovery for Outlook but I bought it a long time ago and it looks like the price has gone up since then. My version doesn't support 2007 or 2010.
http://www.officerecovery.com/outlook/

It does work though and I have also used it to recover OST files which it converts to PST so you can import/open in Outlook again.