PST Not Recognized

[PurbleBear]

I moved several PST files from my desktop to my laptop and now I can't open
them. I get the following message:

The file . . . . is not a personal folders file.

I know for a fact that they were and are personal folders. I tried to move
the files back to my desktop and cannot open them now from there either. I
checked the properties and they show as PST files. The "Read Only" tag is
not checked. I also ran the ScanPST.exe file and get the same error message.
Please help. I need to access these files.

 

[Russ Valentine]

State what steps you used to corrupt them. How did you create them? How did
you move them?
Did you keep a backup?

 

[VanguardLH]

I moved several PST files from my desktop to my laptop and now I can't open
them. I get the following message:

The file . . . . is not a personal folders file.

I know for a fact that they were and are personal folders. I tried to move
the files back to my desktop and cannot open them now from there either. I
checked the properties and they show as PST files. The "Read Only" tag is
not checked. I also ran the ScanPST.exe file and get the same error message.
Please help. I need to access these files.

Was a recordable/rewritable optical disc (CD/DVD) involved in the
non-described "move" procedure? Files burned onto optical media is
read-only. Files copied from optical media will have the read-only
attribute enabled on them until you remove them. Outlook wants write access
to any .pst file you open in it.

It's also possible those .pst files got corrupted by whatever was your
"move" operation. You might be able to run scanpst.exe (repair tool)
against them but it isn't guaranteed to fix a corrupted .pst file.

Where are your backups?

 

[PurbleBear]

Russ,

1. Made sure Outlook was closed on the desktop
2. Went into Windows Explorer, to the location where the files were saved
3. Moved the file from that location onto a USB jump drive
4. Closed Windows Explorer and safely removed the USB jump drive
5. Put USB jump drive into USB slot on my laptop
6. Made sure Outlook was closed on the laptop
7. Opened Windows Explorer and moved the files from the USB jump drive to a
folder located on the desktop of the laptop
8. Went into Control Panel - Mail
9. Clicked on Data Files
10. Clicked on Add
11. Clicked on Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folder File (.pst) (when this
didn't work the first time, I also tried Office Outlook Personal Folders File
(.pst))
12. Received error message
13. Tried a couple of times more and tried the other files
14. Ran ScanPST.exe and received the same message

I don't have a backup of these files.

 

[PurbleBear]

VanguardLH,

The files were moved using a USB jump drive. I have already checked the
setting for "Read Only" and it is not checked. I also ran ScanPST.exe and
get the same error message. It doesn't even attempt to run the program.
Unfortunately I don't have any backups of the files. I needed to get the
files off the Desktop as soon as possible and have transferred files in this
manner before for Outlook and haven't had a problem.

 

[Russ Valentine]

In which version of Outlook were these files created? Which version of
Outlook is installed on the laptop? Why did you need to copy more than one
PST file?
Why do you no longer have access to the original files?
If your copy process created a corrupt file, why not just try it again? Next
time, I'd open the copy in Outlook instead of trying to use the Mail applet
to add it to your profile.

 

[VanguardLH]

The files were moved using a USB jump drive. I have already checked the
setting for "Read Only" and it is not checked. I also ran ScanPST.exe and
get the same error message. It doesn't even attempt to run the program.
Unfortunately I don't have any backups of the files. I needed to get the
files off the Desktop as soon as possible and have transferred files in this
manner before for Outlook and haven't had a problem.

So is a USB "jump" drive just another name for a USB flash drive (aka USB
thumb drive)? Those will catastrophically fail. Some reserve memory is
allocated on the device to mask out errors (bad memory cell blocks). As
more memory goes bad (oxide stress with repeated writes), there is more
masking (which also makes the device slower). Eventually the reserve memory
gets consumed and the device catastrophically fails. Despite that it is not
a mechanical device, it still wears out with use.

What version of Outlook created the .pst file? If Outlook 2003 or 2007 then
perhaps you created a Unicode format .pst file. In what version of Outlook
are you trying to open the transported .pst file? Versions before 2003 only
supported the old ANSI format .pst file (which had the 2GB size limit).
Pre-2003 versions of Outlook cannot understand Unicode .pst files created by
post-2003 versions of Outlook.

 

[PurbleBear]

Russ,

1. In which version of Outlook were these files created?

2003

2. Which version of Outlook is installed on the laptop?

2007

3. Why did you need to copy more than one PST file?

Shouldn't matter

4. Why do you no longer have access to the original files?

As stated below, they were moved from the original location on the hard
drive of the desktop to the USB jump drive and then to the hard drive on the
laptop. In essence these are the original files (just in a different
location).

5. Next time, I'd open the copy in Outlook instead of trying to use the Mail
applet to add it to your profile.

I tried that too both through the Import/Export function and through
options. Still getting the same error message.

 

[PurbleBear]

Vanguard,

Yes, it is the same thing as the flash drive and the thumb drive. The files
were created using Outlook 2003 and I am attempting to open them in Outlook
2007. How do I know if the file was created in Unicode? I have another file
that I need to transfer and need to ensure this doesn't happen to this other
file.

 

[Russ Valentine]

5. Makes no sense. You open Outlook Data files in File > Open > Outlook Data
Files..., never Import/Export and there is no such option in Tools >
Options...
What happens when you do that?

This appears to be a case study in how to lose your data. So many mistakes:
Transferring files without first backing them up
Using an unreliable transfer medium
Moving files instead of copying them

If that's what you did, I don't see how we can help. Sorry.