Can't move email from outlook.pst after Inbox Repair

[donfitz]

To recover from exceeding the 2GB limit, I ran PST2GB.exe to remove 30MB,
then SCANPST.EXE to repair the file. After running more than once, SCANPST
now says there are no errors.

After the repair, folders and email now display properly, but attempts to
move email to other *.pst files fail with the message 'Could not complete the
operation. One or more parameter values are not valid.' However, email from
other *.pst files can be moved into outlook.pst and back out again with no
problem.(?) It appears that there is a problem with the repaired file format.

Is there a newer version of SCANPST that needs to be used for Outlook 2000?

(Running Outlook 2000 - 9.0.0.2711 on Windows 2000 Prof, SP4)

Thanks,
Don

 

[Brian Tillman]

To recover from exceeding the 2GB limit, I ran PST2GB.exe to remove
30MB, then SCANPST.EXE to repair the file. After running more than
once, SCANPST now says there are no errors.

After the repair, folders and email now display properly, but
attempts to move email to other *.pst files fail with the message
'Could not complete the operation. One or more parameter values are
not valid.' However, email from other *.pst files can be moved into
outlook.pst and back out again with no problem.(?) It appears that
there is a problem with the repaired file format.

Instead of moving, can you copy? It sounds like your PST is still close to
the size limit. Even PSTs that are 1.5 Gb can exhibit problems, even if
they can be opened and viewed with no trouble. It also wouldn't hurt to try
creating a new profile.

 

[donfitz]

Copy gives the same "Could not complete..." error message as Move. As
mentioned earlier, what's so puzzling is that emails from OTHER pst files can
be transferred into and out of the repaired file without problems. This
would indicate that file size itself is not the problem.

It's just emails now located in the repaired file that can't be moved or
copied anywhere else, making archiving of the emails to another pst file
impossible. If emails are exported using a non-pst format such as csv
(because export in pst format fails), the time and date are lost. It seems
apparent that there is some incompatibility in the internal format of the
repaired pst file as compared with other pst files.

Is it possible that after upgrading to Version 9.0, Outlook can't be
repaired correctly with SCANPST? Is there a new version of SCANPST? The
bottom line is that SCANPST runs without error and reports at the end that
there are no bad files, but the internal format after repair appears
incorrect.

Don

 

[Brian Tillman]

Copy gives the same "Could not complete..." error message as Move. As
mentioned earlier, what's so puzzling is that emails from OTHER pst
files can be transferred into and out of the repaired file without
problems. This would indicate that file size itself is not the
problem.

Not necessarily. Those messages you're moving in are probably being placed
in "white space", space that is already allocated to the file, but not
currently in use.

Is it possible that after upgrading to Version 9.0, Outlook can't be
repaired correctly with SCANPST? Is there a new version of SCANPST?

SCANPST should get installed with whatever version you install. If there is
an update, it would have been on the installation disk.

If I were you, I'd delete what I could and compact the PST. I'd then run
SCANPST on it again and I'd still create a new profile.

 

[donfitz]

Did the compact, created new profile, and confirmed that SCANPST is the
correct version from the Windows 2000 Professional install CD (Version
5.5.2174.0, 318,976 bytes).
SCANPST reports that there are no files with errors. However, the symptoms
are the same. After creating a new folder on the repaired pst file I can
move or copy email from other pst files in and out of the folder with no
errors. When I copy local email from the repaired file to the new folder to
use the same "white space", and then attempt to copy or move to an external
pst file, the error message "Can't copy the items. Could not complete the
operation. One or more parameter values are not valid." still displays.
There is clearly a difference between the behavior of local (repaired) email
and emails from an external pst file when both are copied into and out of a
newly created folder. The behavior is consistent with the repaired email
being in a format not consistent with what Outlook 2000 9.0 expects. While
the folders and email is now accessible, the error messages indicate that
email is not properly formatted.

Don Fitzpatrick

 

[Brian Tillman]

Did the compact, created new profile, and confirmed that SCANPST is
the correct version from the Windows 2000 Professional install CD
(Version
5.5.2174.0, 318,976 bytes).
SCANPST reports that there are no files with errors. However, the
symptoms are the same.

I'm at a loss, then. Sorry.

 

[donfitz]

Brian,
Thanks for your suggestions. It appears to be some internal SCANPST problem.
Don