To repair a 2GB Personal Folders or Offline Folders file
Microsoft Outlook limits the size of Personal Folders .pst files
and offline folders .ost files to 2GB. If a new or changed item increases the size over than limit,
you will not be able to use the .pst or .ost file. Even if you
delete items from the server mailbox, the .ost file will not
synchronize.
Outlook
has no built-in way
to reduce a PST or OST file that has gone over the limit. However,
Microsoft provides a tool,
PST2GB, which you can download to restore the file to operability. Note,
however, that the utility truncates the data from between 25
and 50mb and the truncated data is not recoverable. The remaining data under
2GB should be restored. See
OL: Oversized PST and OST Crop Tool
for more information.
If you want to attempt repairs yourself, use a tool called a hex editor to edit the data in the file directly. Every Windows
shareware site has a selection of hex editors. Eugene McCarthy of FAO Headquarters in Rome recommends the free
iHex editor, which
loads only 64kb of the file at a time, making it ideal for tinkering with
extremely large PST files.
Make a backup of your PST or OST, then open the original file
with the hex editor (available for download from any Windows
shareware site). You'll want to remove a few characters from the
middle of the file, then save it and try to run the Inbox Repair
Tool (Scanpst.exe) to repair the damage you did with the hex editor.
If Scanpst can repair the file, you should be able to open it
Outlook again. If not, try removing some additional characters from
the file.
If this process works, with any luck, you'll lose only one or two
items. You may be able to recover 100% of the data by repeating the
process with a new copy of the file, but removing the data from a
different area.
Preventing PST files from growing too large
Microsoft
Office XP Service Pack 1 provides better
protection against Personal Folders .pst and offline folders .ost
file growing past the 2GB size limit. Once an PST or OST file
reaches 1.82GB, users with SP1 will not be able to add new items. See:
Office
2000 Service Release 1/1a updates Outlook 2000 so that you
cannot add more data as the PST or OST size approaches 2GB; this
prevents corruption, but the user gets no warning.
Advanced Outlook Repair (AOR) is a powerful tool to repair and recover corrupted Outlook PST files. Main features: support Outlook 97, 98, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007; support to recover mail messages, folders, posts, appointments, meeting requests, contacts, distribution lists, tasks, task requests, journals and notes in PST files; support to recover attachments; support to recover deleted Outlook items; support to recover oversized 2GB PST files; support to split the output PST file into several small ones; support to recover password protected PST files; support to convert PST file from Outlook 97-2002 format into Outlook 2003/2007 format.
Disk Doctors Outlook Mail Recovery (.pst) efficiently recovers messages, folders, appointments, meeting requests, contacts, tasks, task requests, journals and notes from .pst files. Mails are recovered in plain text, HTML and RTF format. The software has advanced support to recover large attachments and embedded HTML messages. It also supports recovery of password protected .pst files and both compressed encryption and high encryption .pst files. The software creates a new healthy .pst file from a corrupt .pst file.
Repair corrupted .pst and .ost files and those exceeding the 2gb limit. Retrieve deleted items from Outlook folders. Can access password-protected .pst files. Can also repair and restore Outlook Express data.
Support tool used to create a truncated copy of a .pst file which allows some recovery when the file size has reached over 2 gig. The copy does not have all the original data because the tool cuts a user defined amount of data from the file. See KB 296088.
BackOffice Resource Kitt utility that can identify which mailboxes contain messages meeting certain criteria, such as a virus-infected file attachment. See
XADM Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge Program (Exmerge.exe) Information
XADM How to Find Mailboxes That Contain a Specific Message.
Kernel for Outlook PST Repair Tool recovers and restores emails and other items from damaged, corrupted or broken PST files. A demo version is available and shows you exactly that how many emails and other items will be recovered using the full Kernel Repair PST Software. Kernel for Outlook PST Repair supported versions are Outlook 97, 2000, XP, 2003. It successfully recovers all items from the PST file including emails, drafts, calendars, journal, notes, tasks, contacts etc. OST repair tool also available.
Provides warnings and restrictions to prevent a user from exceeding the 2gb storage limit for a Personal Folders .pst file. Can be configured to alert an administrator.
Outlook .NET pst/ost native parser. Pass the .pst or .ost file by header or extension, strip attachments, get all items (Appointments, Calendar, Folders, Email, Tasks, etc.), recover deleted or orphaned items. Allows you to continue processing if file is corrupt. Works with 97 - 2007 format, all encryption methods, and password protected files. Outlook is not required. Does not use MAPI or CDO. Version 4.06
Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Recovery Software is designed to repair and restore data from damaged or corrupted Microsoft outlook file. This Outlook recovery software scans the damaged .pst file and extracts and saves information in a new usable .pst file, enabling PST Recovery. In addition, Phoenix-Outlook mail recovery software allows you to recover accidentally deleted messages that have been emptied from the "Deleted Items" folder in Outlook.
General Issues 
Can't open forwarded
messages (*.MSG)
