Microsoft Outlook, as we are well aware, is a prominent email client that works in collaboration with Exchange Server to facilitate a private network for communication within an organization. Outlook stores the complete Exchange mailbox data on the local system hard disk in the OST file format when configured to Cached Exchange Mode. This Offline storage file is extremely beneficial in the sense that it offers access to the mailbox even when Outlook is not connected to Exchange Server. Also, the mailbox is kept intact in the OST file even if Exchange encounters certain issues.
Outlook OST Prompting Error Messages:
Despite the utmost secure mailing environment offered by Exchange, the OST file just as any other database is prone to corruption due to innumerable unprecedented situations.
It sometimes happens that when you try to open an OST file using MS Outlook, it refuses to open and prompts an error message. Let us get acquainted with some of the most frequently encountered OST file errors, prompt when trying to open it.
# Error 1:
Here, xxx.ost is the OST file created when Outlook is working offline with the Exchange mailbox. This error message suggests that the Outlook OST file is corrupt or damaged and MS Outlook has failed to recognize it.
#Error 2:
When you are trying to open or sync the OST file to the Exchange Server using MS Outlook, the above mentioned error message might get displayed suggesting that the OST file is corrupt or damaged and Outlook fails to process it.
#Error 3:
Apart from the above mentioned error messages, another common issue that might occur when Outlook is working offline is that you are unable to open a particular item in the OST file. The reason behind encountering this error is that the Outlook OST file is either damaged or corrupt.
Factors Leading To Corruption of Outlook OST:
The Outlook Offline Storage file is susceptible to damage or corruption due to numerous hardware and software malfunctioning issues.
Storage Device Failure:
If the OST file is stored on the local system hard disk then any damage caused to the sector of hard disk storing the OST file will adversely affect the latter.
Abrupt Power Failure:
In case of sudden or abrupt power failure while accessing or working with the MS Outlook will leave the Outlook OST file corrupt.
Synchronization Disrupted:
The Outlook OST file is synced to the Exchange Server through a network connection. However, if the synchronization process gets suddenly disrupted, the OST file is likely to get corrupted.
Severe Virus Attacks:
Another common reason for the corruption of OST file is attacks from viruses or any other malicious software.
MS Outlook is equipped with self healing properties to recover from the state of disaster. SCANOST is the in-built repair tool provided by MS Outlook to recover corruption issues of OST file. However, this utility is not capable enough to deal with severe level corruption issues. Also, it does not guarantee the desired results.
Alternative Third Party Solution:
In order to overcome the drawbacks of the SCANOST utility, it is advised to deploy a third party application to Recover severe corruption issues of the Outlook OST file. OST to PST Converter is the suggested tool for the same. The advanced features of the tool facilitate recovery of deleted data items from a severely corrupt OST file of any size and further great a backup for the same by converting them to PST/EML or MSG file formats.
Author Bio : Purchase Software is a vast provider of system utilities & tools to help you run your PC smoothly and with ease. The OST to PST Converter software provides you with comprehensive software guidelines, which make the recovery process fast and simple.
