How do I defragment pst files?

[RCRoss]

Re: Outlook 2000 SP3

Neither Microsoft disk defragmenter nor Norton will defragment my pst files.
They are set to compressable encryption, so the encryption appears to be
the problem.

I tried to "Compact Now" from the right click, pst file properties menu.
I see no apparent difference. Openning the pst files, moving new items
into them and closing them are all slow. My drive still shows the files
to be fragmented.

How can I make Outlook usable again?

 

[Alias]

Re: Outlook 2000 SP3

Neither Microsoft disk defragmenter nor Norton will defragment my pst files.
They are set to compressable encryption, so the encryption appears to be
the problem.

I tried to "Compact Now" from the right click, pst file properties menu.
I see no apparent difference. Openning the pst files, moving new items
into them and closing them are all slow. My drive still shows the files
to be fragmented.

How can I make Outlook usable again?

Before proceeding, back up the .pst file because "shit happens". If you
have more than one partition, disconnect the .pst file using Mail in the
control panel. Move the .pst to another partition. Open Outlook and it
will bitch about it and let you browse to the .pst file and connect it
again. Now try defragging the partition where you moved the .pst file.

Alias

 

[K. Orland]

What size is your PST?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

was outlook closed when you ran the defrag program?

is your problem just slowness - i.e., does outlook open ok and you can
access all your mail? How large is the pst?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

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newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

 

[RCRoss]

Outlook was closed during defrag attempts. Outlook takes up to 20 minutes to
open, and sometimes to move a single item into a different pst. Otherwise
all is fine. I have 10 pst files ranging in size from 200KB to 1MB. ???

was outlook closed when you ran the defrag program?

is your problem just slowness - i.e., does outlook open ok and you can
access all your mail? How large is the pst?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

Re: Outlook 2000 SP3

Neither Microsoft disk defragmenter nor Norton will defragment my pst
files.
They are set to compressable encryption, so the encryption appears to be
the problem.

I tried to "Compact Now" from the right click, pst file properties menu.
I see no apparent difference. Openning the pst files, moving new items
into them and closing them are all slow. My drive still shows the
files
to be fragmented.

How can I make Outlook usable again?

 

[DL]

I dont think you mention the Outlook version, nor whether you have run
scanpst.exe on these pst's.
Nor do you say whether you have tried opening Outlook using the safe switch

Outlook was closed during defrag attempts. Outlook takes up to 20 minutes
to
open, and sometimes to move a single item into a different pst. Otherwise
all is fine. I have 10 pst files ranging in size from 200KB to 1MB. ???

was outlook closed when you ran the defrag program?

is your problem just slowness - i.e., does outlook open ok and you can
access all your mail? How large is the pst?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

Re: Outlook 2000 SP3

Neither Microsoft disk defragmenter nor Norton will defragment my pst
files.
They are set to compressable encryption, so the encryption appears to
be
the problem.

I tried to "Compact Now" from the right click, pst file properties
menu.
I see no apparent difference. Openning the pst files, moving new
items
into them and closing them are all slow. My drive still shows the
files
to be fragmented.

How can I make Outlook usable again?

 

[RCRoss]

I am using Outlook 2000 (SP3) fully updated.
What does scanpst.exe do and how long does it run?
I do not use safe switch, i.e. encrypted eMail with a digital ID.

I dont think you mention the Outlook version, nor whether you have run
scanpst.exe on these pst's.
Nor do you say whether you have tried opening Outlook using the safe switch

Outlook was closed during defrag attempts. Outlook takes up to 20 minutes
to
open, and sometimes to move a single item into a different pst. Otherwise
all is fine. I have 10 pst files ranging in size from 200KB to 1MB. ???

was outlook closed when you ran the defrag program?

is your problem just slowness - i.e., does outlook open ok and you can
access all your mail? How large is the pst?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


Re: Outlook 2000 SP3

Neither Microsoft disk defragmenter nor Norton will defragment my pst
files.
They are set to compressable encryption, so the encryption appears to
be
the problem.

I tried to "Compact Now" from the right click, pst file properties
menu.
I see no apparent difference. Openning the pst files, moving new
items
into them and closing them are all slow. My drive still shows the
files
to be fragmented.

How can I make Outlook usable again?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

What does scanpst.exe do and how long does it run?

It's a program that analyzes the internal structure of your Personal Folders
file (PST) for inconsistencies and attempts to repair them if found.

I do not use safe switch, i.e. encrypted eMail with a digital ID.

The safe switch has nothing to do with encrypted mail or digital IDs. It's a
command switch for Outlook that, when used, starts Outlook without any
add-ins, customizations, or extensions. See this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197180

 

[RCRoss]

I looked at the reference you provided. Interesting tool, but I see no
reference to a switch that would defragment a pst file. How please?

 

[K. Orland]

There isn't a switch to defrag a PST file. What was indicated instead was
using the safe switch to start Outlook without any add ins, etc. It was in
reference to your earlier email that stated "I do not use safe switch, i.e.
encrypted eMail with a digital ID." The safe switch is not a digital ID or
encrypted email.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I looked at the reference you provided. Interesting tool, but I see no
reference to a switch that would defragment a pst file. How please?

The closest you can come to "defragmenting" a PST is to compact it, then copy
it and use the copy instead of the original. The compaction process should
make the PST as small as possible and it there is sufficient contiguous space
on your hard drive, the copy process should cause the file system to allocate
the contiguous space to the copied PST.