Microsoft Outlook provides an inbox repair tool for fixing and correcting the corrupted PST files containing large amount of crucial information such as contacts, emails, notes, calendars, appointment, RSS feeds, tasks, events etc. The program file of this tool is named as scanpst.exe. The location of the inbox repair tool is decided by the Outlook version that you are using. This tool verifies the integrity of the PST database and mends the structure if found corrupted or damaged. But this application comes with limited repair functionalities and fails to fix the PST file under certain circumstances when the extent of PST file corruption is high. In such miserable situation if you run inbox repair tool to fix severely corrupted PST file, it reports with the following error message:

“An unexpected error prevented access to this file. Use Scandisk to check the disk for errors, and then try using the Inbox Repair Tool again"

After this error message, the scanning process stops or hangs endlessly on repair and does not mend the PST file leaving the PST file in corrupted state. In such cases scanpst.exe requires more than one pass to fix the issue. Run the tool repeatedly until it reports no errors. Even after running several passes, if the inbox repair tool fails to fix the issue then it indicates that the PST file is severely corrupted beyond the repairing capabilities of the tool. If the PST file contains business critical data, it could lead to several catastrophic situations. So it becomes extremely important to fix PST file as soon as possible. This can be done by using specially designed third party application known as Scan PST software. It is proficient in fixing corrupted PST files of Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, Outlook 2007 and also Outlook 2010 after severe corruption or damage. This software functions as a better alternative to the inbox repair tool and is recommended by many industry experts as the best repair tool available in the internet to scan corrupt PST file of Microsoft Office Outlook. Read more about corruption at http://www.scan-pst.net/corrupt.html.

Grounds of Trouble:

Above mentioned error message usually occurs if the PST file is corrupted under following circumstances

• Oversized PST File: As we all know that the size of the PST file is fixed in all the Outlook versions. Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier versions limit the size of the PST file to 2GB. If the size of the PST exceeds this predefined limit, the PST file may get corrupted and exhibits abnormal behavior on access to its contents.
• Abnormal Termination of Outlook: Normally Outlook application should be closed after saving all the changes made to the PST file, and then exiting the program. Abnormal termination of Outlook due to OS crash, sudden system shut down from power failure while accessing the PST file might introduce some garbage values in to it. Since PST file is very sensitive and garbage database file, simple errors can severely corrupt the file.
• Misbehaving Add-ins: Add-ins is installed to extend the functionality of the applications. Running unnecessary add-ins may make the Outlook slower and even cause stability issues. Installation of faulty add-in which is not compatible with the current version of the Outlook can also cause software compatibility issues leading to corruption of PST file.
• Hardware Failure: If the hard drive has bad sectors and your PST file is residing on these sectors, then you cannot read the contents of the file or you may read only part of the file and the read data will be incorrect. In addition to this remote access to the PST file exposes it to corruption if there are problems in the network links such as interface cards, network hubs, routers and any other hardware device within the link.
• Virus Attack: Virus Attack on PST file can severely corrupt the contents of the file. Some common computer viruses that attack on PST file include Stages virus, worm explore zip and Melissa. These viruses make the contents of PST file inaccessible.
• Other reasons that may lead to the corruption of PST file are corruption of PST file header, application malfunction, upgradation failure, errors while importing the PST file after Outlook upgradation, accidental deletion of important files necessary for Outlook operation, CRC errors.

Scan PST software can fix the PST file irrespective of the reason behind corruption. This read-only software just extracts required contents from the corrupted PST file and creates a new PST file upon accomplishment of repairing process. Newly created PST file will be in Outlook 2003-2010 versions, which makes importing easy. Thus it proves as a best tool when compared to other third party applications which damages the file during repair. It assures complete guarantee of PST file fix and eventually rescue lost Outlook emails from corrupt PST file along with other Outlook data in few clicks of mouse.

Make use of this outstanding application to scan damaged PST file in Microsoft Windows 7, 8, Vista, XP, Windows 2003 and 2008. It is far more advanced and extremely customized tool which can even fix highly encrypted and password protected PST files. Demo version of the software provides preview of the repaired PST file before restoration. If you are satisfied with the preview results purchase the software and save fixed and error free PST file.

How to scan corrupt PST file?

Step 1: Download and install the application on your Windows Computer. Launch the application to get the main window. On main window choose any option from "Open PST File", "Find PST File", and "Select Outlook Profile" as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1: Select Any One Option

Step 2: Select the corrupted PST file which needs to be repaired and click "Next" as shown in Figure 2

Figure 2: Select corrupted PST File

Step 3: Choose one of the scanning method and select the target path for saving the recovered PST file. Now click on "Repair" button in order to start the repair process as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Select Target Folder

Step 4: Imeediately after the completion of repairing process you can preview fixed PST file as shown in Fig 4.

Figure 4: Preview