Fixing CRC Corrupt .pst folder

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Johannsen, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Johannsen, Santa Barbara, CA

Roady and Tillman have been very helpful in getting me to this point but I
still haven't solved the problem.

I am using W2000 and Outlook 2000 and have a large .pst file, over 4000
contacts, etc. spread over 30+ folders (356,528KB). This file has been
built over 5 years and would be virtually impossible to re-build.

One folder has a Cyclic Redundancy Check and will not permit the rest of the
file to be copied for backup or transfer to my laptop. I have run ScanDisk
and Input Repair Tool as well as McAfee VirusScan and no reports of problems
or repair action taken.

I cannot Clear or Delete the error folder.

I have been advised to create a new .pst and copy the old .pst to the new
one but since the old.pst won't copy anyplace else I am hesitant to try
that. Even if it does copy, it would seem like the error folder will still
be there.

Questions: 1) Is there another way to delete the damaged folder only? 2)
If not, is there a way to copy only the undamaged folders from the old to
the new .pst file?

Jim Johannsen, Santa Barbara, CA
 
Hi Jim,

Creating a new pst-file is indeed the best way to go now to avoid complete
loss of data. When you have a new pst-file created you can manually copy the
folder to the new pst-file. It could be very well possible that you'll be
able to copy all the folders succesfully. If not then start copying
individual items from that folder to the new pst-file. You might only loose
a mail or one ore two this way.

Note that scandisk isn't a way to determine whether your harddisk is
failing. You can use a S.M.A.R.T. tool for this or a tool your harddisk
supplier has available.

Are you running Windows 2000 on a FAT formatted or NTFS formatted harddisk?

--
Roady [MVP]
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(I changed my reply address; remove all CAPS and _underscores_ from the
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It is NTFS format.

Jim Johannsen
Roady said:
Hi Jim,

Creating a new pst-file is indeed the best way to go now to avoid complete
loss of data. When you have a new pst-file created you can manually copy the
folder to the new pst-file. It could be very well possible that you'll be
able to copy all the folders succesfully. If not then start copying
individual items from that folder to the new pst-file. You might only loose
a mail or one ore two this way.

Note that scandisk isn't a way to determine whether your harddisk is
failing. You can use a S.M.A.R.T. tool for this or a tool your harddisk
supplier has available.

Are you running Windows 2000 on a FAT formatted or NTFS formatted harddisk?

--
Roady [MVP]
www.sparnaaij.net
Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office related News
Also Outlook FAQ, How To's, Downloads and more...

Tips of the month:
-Create your own fully customized Toolbar
-Creating a Classic View in Outlook 2003
Subscribe to the newsletter to receive news and tips & tricks in your
mailbox!
www.sparnaaij.net

(I changed my reply address; remove all CAPS and _underscores_ from the
address when mailing)
Click to expand...
 
Alright, tried the suggestion mentioned already?

--
Roady [MVP]
www.sparnaaij.net
Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office related News
Also Outlook FAQ, How To's, Downloads and more...

Tips of the month:
-Create your own fully customized Toolbar
-Creating a Classic View in Outlook 2003
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mailbox!
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(I changed my reply address; remove all CAPS and _underscores_ from the
address when mailing)
 
Tried copying the saved .pst folders to the new .pst folder but it gives
same error message, that is "Cannot copy Outlook: Data Error (cyclic
redundancy check).

I can't figure out how to get into the folder to copy and paste my
sub-folders (except the one I know has the error).

A local techie told me to move the complete Outlook folder to my desktop
before I created the new Personals Folder file so I think I must get that
file back into the Microsoft Outlook folder path but I am reluctant to try
to do that because my file has 5 years of work in it including 4000 contacts
that would be virtually irreplacable.

I do have a backup from "Back up my PC" but it has a message "Warning:
D:\Documents and Settings\Jim Johannsen\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.pst was inaccessible during the backup. It
cannot be restored or compared." so if it wasn't replaceable, it must not be
in the backup. I fear that the only copy I have of my full file is the one
that has one sub-folder with the CRC.

Sorry to be such a pain.

Jim Johannsen
 
If you can get into the pst-file but cannot move any items and both chkdsk
/f and the scanpst.exe didn't come up with anything you might say that
things are beyond repair. This is way I suggested you try to save that still
could be saved by copying the items that don't give you any errors to a new
pst-file.

2 more things you could try;
Empty the Deleted Items folder and give it another go
Run Compact Now... on the pst-file. Note that this could completely recover
but also completely destroy your pst-file at this point. With CRC errors
results are unpredictable.

If you are still not able to recover it I suggest you try a hardware
newsgroup which can assist you on checking the disk for errors and give you
tips on trying to recover data.

--
Roady [MVP]
www.sparnaaij.net
Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office related News
Also Outlook FAQ, How To's, Downloads and more...

Tips of the month:
-Create your own fully customized Toolbar
-Creating a Classic View in Outlook 2003
Subscribe to the newsletter to receive news and tips & tricks in your
mailbox!
www.sparnaaij.net

(I changed my reply address; remove all CAPS and _underscores_ from the
address when mailing)
 
I now have been able to copy the good Contact folders in my contact file to
the new Personal Folders file so I only lost one folder with about 22
contacts from the corrupted file.

Still have two problems -

1) Lost my custom form for Contacts although the listview shows the format
from the custom contact form. I have posted a message on the Outlook,
Contacts Newsgroup to look for the answer to this. The custom form must be
in the old Personal Folders file but I don't know how to get it to the new
one so I can publish it for the new.

2) Want to make the old Personal Folders file into an archival file because
it contains 5+ years of e-mail that I may need to refer to sporadically. Do
I need to create another Personal Folders file and transfer one E-mail File
Cabnet Folder at a time until I find any that are corrupted like the one
Contact folder was?
 
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