Hi XXXXXXX,

Jerry is offline so I will step you through more possible solutions. I am a data recovery professional myself. Although Jerry's suggestion was correct as a first step, it seems the error may have been a logical one which chkdsk is not good at dealing with.

May I ask what recovery program you are using and what error you are recieving when trying to save the file?

I will be online for another 30 mins or so, if I have not heard back by then I will open the question up again so other experts can assist you in the mean time.

Chris

Your problem is the size of your pst files, Microsoft states that a pst file should be no larger then 2GB because after that they can becoe unstable and potential get corrupt.

You are recieveing the I/O errir because of it's size.

Are you still able to open it in Outlook??

If so then you need to clean it up a little bit to make it smaller and you should really start a new one.

If you can open the file in Outlook and work with it let me know so I can detail how you go about cleaning it up and shrinking it down so you can move it successfully.

Jerry

Good morning XXXXXXX,

You can try using a command prompt to copy the file to a different device ignoring any errors.

If your not familiar with this method:

open the start menu, type cmd into the search bar and press enter

Type cd\ then enter
type cd docume~1, if you get an error type cd users
type cd then your username(if it's more than 8 letters ling type the first six then ~1 as above then press enter
Type cd "local settings"
Type cd applic~1
Type cd Micros~1
Type cd Office
Type cd Outlook

if any of these fail look at the window you're using to look at the pst and use the above structure with the method of following cd first six letters the ~1

Once in the directory with your .pst file type in
XCOPY *.PST c:\ /I

This will attempt to copy the file onto the root of your c drive and will ignore errors. If it works, rerun your repair program on the one in the C: main directory. If it fails, you may need the help of a recovery pro with more advanced software, but I can get you in touch with a facility close to you.

Chris

PS, once you have access to the file, either shrink it down as Jerry has suggested or setup the auto archiving feature so it will split old emails out of the file into a seperate file for storage while maintaining a more managable main .PST file.

If you can open it before you move it using Xcopy and can compact it, it would be better so as to make sure you can save your pst file.

Here are detailed instructions on how to clean up your PST file and compact it.

Step one is pretty obvious: delete what you can. Remember though, when you delete an item in Outlook it is simply moved to the Deleted Items folder which doesn't actually free the space until you empty it. So right click on the Deleted Items folder and select the Empty "Deleted Items" Folder to permanently delete its contents. This will free up the space that the deleted items took. But it will not immediately make the file smaller.

Step two: after you've permanently deleted what you can, it's time to compress. Microsoft has a knowledge base
article about compressing your .pst http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=289987. In short: File-> Data File Management, select your Personal Folders, Settings, and then Compact Now.


If you are using a earlier version of Outlook such as Outlook 2000 and in other versions of Outlook as well, it might be easier to find the "Compact Now" button this way:

* Make sure that View - Folder List is selected.
* Right click on Outlook Today - [Personal Folders], and select Properties.
* Press the Advanced button and you'll find the Compact Now button on the resulting dialog.


If the resulting file is still too big then it might be time to create an additional .pst. Outlook supports having multiple .pst's open at the same time. Your existing "Personal Folders" will remain the destination for email but you can easily move items into another .pst file.

To create a new .pst, select File-> New-> Outlook Data File..., then select "Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)", and OK. In the next dialog box specify the location and name of your new .pst. I tend to place my archive .pst files in a common mail directory on another machine on my network but keeping it along side your existing personal folders is also common. Pick something that reflects how you'll organize your email and press OK. In the next dialog, specify the display name (I usually just use the file's name). Leave the other settings as they are for now and press OK.

Once you've created your new .pst, it will show up at the bottom of your email or file folders list. You can expand it, create sub folders in it, and drag and drop messages from your old .pst into your new one.

Your new .pst will automatically show up each time you open Outlook. You can explicitly close it if you like (Right click on it, and select "Close") which will speed up Outlook's start time somewhat. To open it again later, select File-> Open-> Outlook Data File....

Good luck and I hope you are able to save your PST file!
Jerry

Not unless you can copy the file and open it on someone else computer with Outlook.

I have run into this issue all the time with users I work with in a corporate enviroment. The problem with a large PST file is it gets holes in it as you add and remove emails. That is why there is the ned to compact it so it can make it more stable.

At this point since you can not open it I would do what Chris suggested and try Xcopy to move it to another hard drive.

But if you can not get the scan disk to run throughly you may have a hard ware issue with your hard drive and it could be slowly failing. I know your computer is new but even 1 out of 1000 pieces of hard ware make it to the field and fail right out of the box.

I hope the information me and Chris have given you can help you.

Good Luck!
Jerry

Yes that's completely the right idea. If the file is not completely corrupt and you can get it to open in Outlook then you might be able to do a compaction. Then delete some email form it that you don't need, especially the deleted items folder. Most people hit delete and don't realize it just goes to the deleted items folder.

Unfortunately if you can not get it to open in Outlook and the program you purchased does not work you might be out of luck, sorry.

I have found that a outlook archive work like a access database file. By that I mean as you add and remove data they become unstable. Which is why no one uses access to store a database if they do not want to chance losing it.

I am sorry we were not able to help you and by all means since we have not solved your issue you are not obligated to accept any of our answers.

Good Luck
Jerry

<p>Hello again,</p><p> </p><p>As Jerry mentioned, if you still can't open the file with outlook to do the compaction and your recovery program is failing to do the job you may be out of options that you can do yourself.</p><p> </p><p>Now that you've moved the file off the damaged portion of the drive you could copy it to a 4gb flash drive and send it to the pros. They have utilities that can extract individual intact records such as individual emails and contacts. These items are extracted in a raw form and can be sifted through without outlook allowing you to clean up the database without having to shrink it first.</p><p> </p><p>If you decide to use this method I would recommend using Armor-IT in Canada or Disk Doctor in the US(DD is slightly faster, AIT is about 2/3 the $ on average), let me know which company you would like to go with and I can put you in touch with them.</p><p> </p><p>Thanks Jerry for picking this back up this morning as I was busy all day.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Chris</p><p> </p><p> </p>

OK you have two choices, one is to scrap everything and call it a day and just start with a new pst file, your pst file sounds like it is definitely corrupted at this point. The other is to take Chris's suggestion and try and contact "the pros" as he called them.

In my experience sending hardware or data to people like that is very expensive and you may never be completely happy because it cost so much and you get back so little.

Chris may have had better luck with the two companies that he mentioned in his post.

I am sure he will chime in sooner or later he once he is online and sees more post so good luck in whatever you choose.

Jerry

Hello again,

As Jerry just mentioned, we've definitely exhausted the DIY options. Depending on what is in the PST and what it's worth to you it may be worth persuing the pros, if it is I would expect it could cost anywhere from $200-$1000 depending on the type and extent of the damage. As Jerry mentioned, results can be a bit of a let down sometimes but I know both of the companies I mentioned before only charge a minimal assessment fee up front, they will then test the file and give you a quote with a good idea of how many records they can extract from each folder and how many are intact before they proceed.

This allows you to decide if it's worth your money to proceed once you are well informed.


Otherwise as mentioned it may be time to scrap it, if it's not viable to pay for a pro and start over with a fresh PST file.

Sorry it's not better news,

Chris

No problem,

We're here to help, I would ask as well if you accept the solutions we've provided as being helpful, that you accept Jerry's solution as only one of us gets credited on a call like this and he has put significantly more time in on this one than I.

As for the Paypal scripts I'm not personally familiar with them. I suspect Jerry will reply soon as well but if he isn't either then I would suggest posting that as a seperate question in the Programming section as we have a few dozen programmers on Just Answer who should be able to answer that question better than I.


Chris

Hey XXXXXXX I am glad you were able to recover most of your data from the pst file.

I talk ed it over with Chris and he agreed that I should get the credit for this question. So if you were satisfied with the outcome could you please hit accept so I can get paid fo my time?

Thanks,
Jerry