Outlook "Not Responding" when trying to access Personal Folders (.

[lkthompson]

I've been trying to transfer files from the Personal Folders (.pst files
saved on a network drive) to the regular server mailbox in Outlook 2003. I
have Personal Folders viewable in the Folder List, but as soon as I click on
Personal Folders, the hourglass comes up, and eventually Outlook will have
the Not Responding message when I do CTRL ALT DEL. I've tried right-clicking
on the Personal Folders to get to the Move button, but this also brings out
the hourglass. I've also tried going to File > Import and Export to move the
pst files to identical folders in my regular mailbox. Again, the hourglass....

Other things I've tried:
-creating a new email profile
-using Detect and Repair to fix Outlook
-copying the pst files to anotherlocation on the network and transferring
from there
-defragmenting (computer actually has about 65% free space)

Please help!

thanks

 

[lkthompson]

Just wanted to add that my archived pst file is only 172 mb.

 

[K. Orland]

PST files are not recommended to be kept on a networked drive and in fact
this is not even supported by Microsoft. They should be kept locally since
Outlook requires constant read/write access to the file. Any interruption in
network connectivity can corrupt the PST file. My first recommendation is to
move the PST onto your laptop/PC and run scanpst.exe against it to repair any
errors/corruption that may have occured. You may have to run scanpst.exe
several times, until the scan shows no more errors.
ScanPST is on your PC/laptop, use the file find function to locate it.
Double-click the executable and follow the instructions.

 

[lkthompson]

Thanks so much, Kathleen! Our company's help desk had advised me to copy to a
network drive (in the case of getting a new computer where you wouldn't have
the same local drives), but what you said makes more sense. I copied the PST
to the C drive and ran scanpst.exe. I could then copy the files easily to the
main mailbox just by dragging them. Thanks again!!

 

[K. Orland]

Your company's Help Desk probably wants you to keep a copy in your home or
user drive as a backup. You can easily copy it on a weekly or bi-weekly basis
to keep a reasonably current backup. You just don't want to use the file from
a network share, just keep a copy of it there in case your computer/laptop
ever crashes. Losing your email isn't fun so it's a good idea to have a
backup.
Your home or user drive that is located on the network is likely backed up
at least nightly, the contents of your PC are probably not. Keep your
critical data backed up onto a networked drive but you have to use your PST
locally. You'll want to make sure you copy that up to your network drive
regularly.