Modifying the .pst file size. Registry key does not exist.

[jaminthepark]

Hello,

One of my clients having problem moving emails from inbox to archive
folder. The error she receives is :
"Can`t move the items. The message store has reached its maximum size.
To reduce ... delete"

I have checked out this MS-KB article -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925/ , however I am not able to find
PST subfolder in either of these:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\
hence, searching for any of these registry entries don't return any
keys:
Name Type Valid Data Range Default , MaxLargeFileSize ,
WarnLargeFileSize , MaxFileSize.

Since I am not able to find these entries , I am not able to edit them.
Could anyone shed a light?

Client : Outlook 2003 (Running in cached mode)
Server: Exchange 2003
OS: Windows XP Pro.

Thanks in advance,

Tugay

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Aloha jaminthepark,

How big is the message store? Were those PST files created with an earlier
version of Outlook? Have you tried creating a Unicode (Outlook 2003) PST
file to move the items to?

-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr - MVP
http://www.rolandschorr.com
Microsoft OneNote FAQ: http://www.factplace.com/onenote.html

 

[Greg V]

Those keys don't exist on my pc either. An option would be to manually
create an entry for them. Either way the max size of the pst is 1.8gb.
Once you hit that limit you will get the cannot move messages error. You
must then either delete old messages out of that pst to create space or
create another pst to allot for more storage. These keys will not help you
make a 20gb pst file, that is not possible with pst file formats - they will
go corrupt on you.

 

[jaminthepark]

Thanks Ben and Greg.

Ben,
The file was created with OL2003. It wasn't an upgrade from earlier
version. I'm not sure about the file size yet as I havent been able to
reach back to my client.

Greg,
So it is an option to create another .pst file. I may take that route.

Just to make things more clear, are we saying that *.pst files cannot
exceed 2 GB in general, in order to keep Outlook function properly?

Tugay

 

[Greg V]

You are correct. Pst files are very sensative creatures, with the 1.8gb
limit and even before you approach that limit the file become susceptable to
corruption and data loss. That limit is hard set and there is no way to
work around it.

Pst files are really a carry over and an unfortunate side effect of our need
to store email away from the exchange server. Microsoft even has technet
acticles warning that pst's should only be used on the local machines hard
drive, and not on network resources as even that may corrupt them. The main
question then is, how do you back them up if they have to be on the local
machine. Two suggestions there is dvd, or offline copying back to the file
server or to a portable hard drive. I really can't stress enough that once
you move to this format, you have to be proactive with the users and ensure
the data is backed up somehow.

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Aloha jaminthepark,

The 2GB file size limit was true of versions prior to Outlook 2003. If you
can confirm that the PST file is a Unicode file, created with Outlook 2003,
then you shouldn't have a file size issue. (though very large PST files may
still have performance issues).

You don't need to edit any registry keys to get a larger-than-2GB PST file.
It just needs to be a Unicode file.

-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr - MVP
http://www.rolandschorr.com
Microsoft OneNote FAQ: http://www.factplace.com/onenote.html

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Aloha Greg,

The 1.8GB limit is certainly true of the old PST files; but the new Unicode
ones (Outlook 2003 or later) are not subject to that limit anymore. That
said I'd still be wary of working with very large PST files in general, because
of performance issues and the possibility of data loss or corruption.

-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr - MVP
http://www.rolandschorr.com
Microsoft OneNote FAQ: http://www.factplace.com/onenote.html

 

[jaminthepark]

Thank you all. Here is what I did to resolve this issue:

I have created new Unicode .pst file and moved everything from old .pst
to new one with exception of "Draft" folder. I guess the old .pst was
ANSI, hense it was a subject of roughly 2 GB space limit.
Then sent several emails a with sizewise big attachments and as a last
step moved those emails to new .pst. It works well so far.
Old .pst size: 1872397 KB (not able to move emails from inbox to this
folder)
New .pst size: 1925448 KB (able to move emails from inbox to this .pst)

Is there any way to find out the standart (ANSI or UNICODE) of existing
*.pst files?