Corrupted .pst file - how do I recover my mails?

[edam]

My computer has apparently decided to become instable the big way - and
saturday evening it crashed, subsequently corrupting my .pst file. I
cannot recall how big it had become - probably some 400-500 MB in size
- but when I rebooted outlook reported that it was corrupt - and using
windows explorer I can see that windows reports it as being 0 B in
size.

As soon as I realised that this had happened I ceased writing to the
disc (fortunately my data do not reside on the C-drive - I know better
than that!).

I have tried downloading a number of tools from the web (e-recovery for
outlook, stellar phoenix mailbox professional, PSTstation etc.) as well
as trying on the tool microsoft provides under the common files/system
folder - to no avail. Is there really nothing I can do to recover my
mails?

All my emails from the past 3-4 years are in this folder - and it's
been way too long since I backed it up (yes I know - I should know
better than foregoing regular backups) :-(

My setup: Win2k, office XP.

Any help will be appreciated.

BR

Erik.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

If the pst-file size is 0KB there is nothing you can do with pst-recovery
tools. You should look for more general tools that can recover data from a
disk. These tools are usually unsuccesful in recovering a pst-file (and any
other databse like filetype) though.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

 

[edam]

Hi, Robert,

My first reaction was to try generic recovery tools. I tried with both
PC Inspector and DIY Datarecovery IRecover - but none of these tools
are able to find my data :-(

Do you have any other ideas?

BR

Erik.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Nope, you're better of asking this in a data recovery newsgroup. Although
it's a pst-file the recovery itself doesn't have to do anything with
Outlook.

Good luck!

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

 

[coal_brona]

Hi,

I suppose you give a try to powerful data recovery tools such as
Active@ Undelete or Uneraser(for pure DOS). That might really help you,
give it a chance. When I was in a simmilar situation Undelete did
really helped.

http://www.active-undelete.com/

http://www.uneraser.com/

 

[Outlookfix]

Try Outlookfix for the recovery of corrupt files but also of deleted ones.