Best way to read 3.5GB OL2003 .pst file from old computer on a new computer?

[Danny]

My old computer has OL2003 with a 3.5GB .pst file. The old computer's
OL 2003 suffered from poor performance due to constant synchronization
of folders that would sometimes last upwards of 30 minutes. My GF
does not want to depart with the 300 plus emails saved in the inbox
folder...ditto the sent mail folder. She wants to be able to refer
back to them on occasion, but agrees they don't need to be necessarily
read/handled by OL2003 on the new machine. I don't want to bog down
my new computer's fresh installation of OL2003 by just moving over and
installing this massive .pst file.

I've read about using OE to read old and possibly large archived .pst
files, but I understand OL has to be installed on the new machine. I
do have OL2003 on the new machine, but I'd rather it didn't know about
this old, monstrously huge .pst file because I'm afraid the
synchronizing folders dilemma would resurface on the new machine. Can
OE read large .pst files without slowing down OL2003's performance?
If I can use OE to read these old emails, I believe I have to export
the inbox folder and the sent mail folder from OL2003 on my old
computer as two separate CSV files. After I have moved the two CSV
files from the old computer to the new one, I'm not quite sure on how
to import the two CSV files into OE on the new machine. If this is at
all a workable idea, any tips or pointers would be appreciated.

I've also read about the possibility of using Thunderbird to read the
gargantuan .pst file, but I don't know quite how to pull it off. Once
again, I don't want the presence of this huge file on my new machine
to cause its OL2003 to go through the ridiculously long
synchronization sessions that I had to endure on the old computer.

Thanks for any and all help and/or info.

Danny in Yorktown, VA

 

[Luis Nunes]

now.. why don't you just import the email folders (or whatever.. the whole
3.5gb if it knocks urself out) into OE in the OLD machine?

... first of all in OE go into options and in the maintenance select a new
folder to store the data.
... then.. import (it WILL take quite some time in ur case)
you'll have then everything in that folder .. copy it to the new machine..
in the new machine do the same options thing in OE (remember to READ well
what it asks cause you have already email data there..) and off you go.

last but not least.. erase the old .pst file .. invite some fiends and have
a farewell party.
lolol

 

[Brian Tillman]

My old computer has OL2003 with a 3.5GB .pst file. The old computer's
OL 2003 suffered from poor performance due to constant synchronization
of folders that would sometimes last upwards of 30 minutes. My GF
does not want to depart with the 300 plus emails saved in the inbox
folder...ditto the sent mail folder. She wants to be able to refer
back to them on occasion, but agrees they don't need to be necessarily
read/handled by OL2003 on the new machine. I don't want to bog down
my new computer's fresh installation of OL2003 by just moving over and
installing this massive .pst file.

Outlook should have no trouble handling a 3.5 GB PST. I suspect there are
other issues on that PC.

I've read about using OE to read old and possibly large archived .pst
files, but I understand OL has to be installed on the new machine.

Outlook Express cannot read PSTs, period. What it can do is import from
Outlook (File>Import>Messages), but Outlook must be configured and have the
PST in the open mail profile.