Problems with Outlook

[crl]

When my computer re-booted last time there was a message on the screen saying words to the effect of there is a fault with or damage to a section of the Hard Drive. Since then I have not been able to load Microsoft Outlook or Adobe. Adobe does not phase me as I can just Download a new copy. I realise that I could do the same thing with Outlook but I do not want to loose all the emails and email addresses I have saved within. When I double-click the Outlook icon the following message appears: Cannot start Outlook. The file C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst is not a personal folders file.

Can this be fully repaired or at least repaired to the extent that I can retrieve my emails or am I out of luck?

Thanks in advance,

crl

[WhiteD3]

crl,

Move or rename the file *.pst. Try to run Outlook. When (if) it prompts you for a pst file, let it create a new one, then once running, choose file/open/data file and browse to your old pst file and see if it opens.

If Outlook won't run, reinstall it and browse to your old pst file.

If the pst file won't open and is corrupted I'm not sure what you can do. There is a repair wizard (I think) in Outlook.

Hope this helps.

[jik22]

Once you've tried the above, seach your drive for a file called "scanpst.exe" (Which is usually buried somewhere in the office folder). Point that at your "damaged" PST file and see what it makes of it. If that can't do anything with it, there are more professional solutions, but you're looking at $$$.

Oh, and in case your drive is on it's way out, now would be a good time to save anything urgent to DVD or similar......unless you had a crash which damaged the files because they were open, this is often a sign that the hard disk may not be long for this world.....better safe than sorry.

[Disco Pom]

crl,

The 'Inbox repair tool' ( scanpst.exe) is in the following directory..

C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

I'm running XP Pro ..

I had similar problems to yours with my archive.pst and ran the tool on it..found some errors and repaired them.

Opened the archive again in outlook and all worked !

Might get lucky :p....if you do....backup everything before your disk commits suicide..:eek:

cheers,
Richard

[MinniTheMoocha]

Don't forget to do a disk check of the C: drive. Chkdsk c: this will tell you if there has been any corruption of the disk. If there is try chkdsk /f c: to fix it.

You will still need to run scanpst.exe to actuallly fix the .pst file.

If your hard disk is making any abnormal sounds then you need to transfer all the data and programs to another hard disk. There a number of programs that transfer from one computer hard disk to another one in the same computer. The you remove the old hard disk and boot of the new one. (Ghost is a program that comes to mind $$)

Hope it is'nt a real hard disk fault just disk corruption.