Common Issues in Outlook PST file and their Solutions

PST File Size Issues and Problems

MS Outlook is a trustworthy common source used by all associations as well as by business organizations to manage their daily work routine. Sometimes MS Outlook shows very annoying behavior like Outlook freezes, hangs, stops respond to user query etc. All described errors are happening due to overgrown size of Outlook data file i.e. PST

 

Before proceeding to solution of such problems, here are few words to describe PST file. MS Outlook stores user information in an Outlook data file known as PST file. PST file is stored in user’s hard disk and can save up to 50 GB data easily. File size of PST file depends upon Outlook version we used. Version prior to Outlook 2010 PST file size limit is 20GB only. Storage location of PST file:

In MS Outlook 2013: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15

In MS Outlook 2010: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14

As I told above PST file is outlook most common file and a little carelessness with PST file will lead you to data loss. In my post I am describing all problems that outlook users can face if they ignore growing PST file size.

Common Problems with PST File:

PST File Backup over a Network

As we all know, location of PST file is user hard disk. It’s easy to take back up of PST file on hard disk. Problem appears when Outlook users uses PST file on a network (LAN/WAN). If user is not a technical guy then it became too difficult to take backup of PST file on network.

Here is noteworthy point for Outlook users:

Outlook user cannot run backup of PST file if Outlook is in running mode. According to properties of PST file user cannot run PST file on a network. To perform such operation user must configure their backups of every machine exclusively.

Solution of Problem

To solve this problem outlook user has to change their storage location of PST file. They can change it from user hard disk to server. To perform these operations successfully use Cached Exchange Mode. By doing do when user connect to a network then automatically mails present on server are synchronized with user account.

Problem in Accessing PST file on a Network:

When user access PST file on the server then it usually happened system start hanging or responds slowly to every initiated query. It’s a very common behavior of Outlook when used with server. A common reason behind this problem is unsupported configuration of PST file on LAN/WAN networks. This happens because WAN and LAN links supports different procedure for message store i.e. network-access-driven methods while PST file while uses access-driven technique. 

PST Files are Sensitive

I already brief about users about PST file size and their storage location. In our busy routine we usually forgot to maintain our outlook mailbox. As day passes our mailbox starts growing and same is true for PST file. Problem comes when file size exceeds to defined file size of PST file. Increased file size is very big cause of data corruption. Although it’s also possible there are other reasons that let your PST corrupt. Reasons like:

• Virus Infection
• Hardware In Compatibility

 NOTE: PST files that are saved on user hard disk can easily get corrupt and results in huge data loss.

Solution: To overcome this outlook file corruption process used PST Repair software. Microsoft provides a free inbuilt utility that repairs corrupt PST file. In case of severe corruption of PST file Inbox repair fails. In such situation use a professional Outlook PST Repair tool that surely repairs highly corrupt PST file.