Archive.pst will not import

[Johann Swart]

WIN2K Pro SP4
Outlook 2K SP3 - Internet Mail Only - Security Update
I need to retrieve information from an Outlook archive file.
When I attempt to import the archive.pst, I first get the message
"Properties for this information service must be defined prior to use." I
then click on OK (only choice), and then get a message "Errors have been
detected in the file D:\archive.pst. Quit all mail enabled applications, the
use the Inbox Repair Tool." Using the procedure on
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA010549331033.aspx, I run
scanpst.exe, but at the end of phase 4/8 I get the message "An error has
occurred which caused the scan to be stopped. No changes have been made to
the scanned file." That then seems to be the end of the road.
Does this mean that my achive file is totally useless, or is there perhaps
another avenue to follow?

 

[VanguardLH]

WIN2K Pro SP4
Outlook 2K SP3 - Internet Mail Only - Security Update
I need to retrieve information from an Outlook archive file.
When I attempt to import the archive.pst, I first get the message
"Properties for this information service must be defined prior to use." I
then click on OK (only choice), and then get a message "Errors have been
detected in the file D:\archive.pst. Quit all mail enabled applications, the
use the Inbox Repair Tool." Using the procedure on
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA010549331033.aspx, I run
scanpst.exe, but at the end of phase 4/8 I get the message "An error has
occurred which caused the scan to be stopped. No changes have been made to
the scanned file." That then seems to be the end of the road.
Does this mean that my achive file is totally useless, or is there perhaps
another avenue to follow?

Use File -> Open to load the archive .pst file into Outlook. Does that
work?

For safety sake, did you run scanpst.exe on a *copy* of your archive
..pst file?

Scanpst is not guaranteed to fix a corrupted .pst file. I believe it
will truncate the file if it is over the 2GB (1.87GiB) limit. You
didn't mention the size of the original .pst file.

Got backups from which you can restore an older copy of the .pst file?

 

[Johann Swart]

1) I did try File, ->Open: Same result.
2) No, I did not use (have) a copy (oops?)
3) Yes, the file is approx. 2.06 GB
4) No, I do not have a backup.
Archiving question: I archive on a monthly basis, and usually just add to
the existing archive. What would you suggest (in order to keep the archive
files below 2GB): that when one archives, to create a new archive.pst each
time? I receive approx 50-60 emails daily and discard very few of them.
PS: You may see another query from me on this list regarding the same
subject; please ignore. When I posted the first query, I got a message that
the service was unavailable and that I should try later, which I then did
without noticing that the first query did in fact register. Apologies!

 

[VanguardLH]

1) I did try File, ->Open: Same result.
2) No, I did not use (have) a copy (oops?)
3) Yes, the file is approx. 2.06 GB
4) No, I do not have a backup.

Doesn't sound like you are going to resuscitate that corrupted .pst
file. You could Google to see if there are some 3rd party tools that
profess then can raise Lazarus.

Archiving question: I archive on a monthly basis, and usually just add to
the existing archive. What would you suggest (in order to keep the archive
files below 2GB): that when one archives, to create a new archive.pst each
time? I receive approx 50-60 emails daily and discard very few of them.
PS: You may see another query from me on this list regarding the same
subject; please ignore. When I posted the first query, I got a message that
the service was unavailable and that I should try later, which I then did
without noticing that the first query did in fact register. Apologies!

I chain my archives. In the main (or delivery) message store, you set
archiving so items go into, say, an archive file named 1year.pst that
are over a year old. You don't even have to wait until items are
eligible and to eventually get moved into the 1year.pst archive file.
Just use File -> New to make a new Outlook data file. To let you use,
read, or search that archive, load it in Outlook (File -> Open).

In that 1year.pst archive, set auto-archive options to move items over 2
years old into a 2year.pst archive file. Again, you can use File -> New
to make a new .pst file before items get moved to it (so you can specify
it when selecting which file to use). Then load that 2year.pst file
using File -> Open.

You see how you repeat this process for as many years as you want. Say
you want to keep items for 5 years but only keep a year's worth of
archived items in each archive .pst file. As above you set
auto-archiving in each of the folders in the archive file to move items
that are over a year old. In the last, or 5th, archive, you set
auto-archiving to permanently delete items over 5 years old. You could
make each archive move items when they are 2 or 3 years old or whatever
snapshot interval you want for your old e-mails. Obviously the last
archive in the chain has to move the old items somewhere otherwise it
will fill up that last one in the chain over the years. It's the final
bucket so you don't want to overflow, either. Figure out how many years
you want to keep e-mails and at what intervals to store them in separate
archives in that chain of archives.

These archives MUST be loaded in Outlook. Something has to do the
actual archive function and that is Outlook, but Outlook only takes
actions on files it has open. So if, for example, you had 5 archives
chained together, you would see your mail/delivery message store and
then 5 more message stores, one for each of the 5 .pst files that were
chained together for archiving into each other. Just as archiving can
be performed on your main message store, archiving also works on every
..pst file you load in Outlook.

Otherwise, just do backups and keep them for as long as you want. You
can always restore a .pst file from your backups (to a different path
than the .pst file you are currently using) and use File -> Open in
Outlook to load it. Then you can look at the items in it to recover the
ones you want or just leave them in that archive to review them.

You could chain the archives together. Or you could do backups.

 

[DL]

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296088
May help with your oversize pst

 

[Johann Swart]

Hi guys,
Thanks a million for your assistance.
DL's suggestion, Article 296088, did the trick. The entire problem seemed to
be due to the file size, i.e. in excess of 2GB. I downloaded the utility
PST2GB and ran the repair. I managed to recover around 90% archive file.
Thank again!
Regards
Johann

 

[DL]

Good to see its ok
Now dont forget to modify your archive settings to point to a new archive
(simply rename the archive, in the archive dialogue, a new archive will be
created on next run)

 

[Johann Swart]

You can bet your bottom dollar on that! This is one lesson I have learnt wery
well.
Thanks again!
Johann