– Before any repair, copy the corrupted PST file to a different drive. Never work on the only copy.
However, PST files are notoriously fragile. They are susceptible to corruption due to software crashes, improper shutdowns, oversized data, hard drive bad sectors, or even virus attacks. When a PST file becomes corrupt, the result is panic: missing emails, broken calendar entries, "Unknown Error" messages, or Outlook refusing to open altogether.
– Click "Browse" or "Add File." If the file is huge (over 20GB), ensure the tool supports it.
A PST repair tool is not magic—it is engineering. Understand its limits, respect its power, and you will never truly lose your Outlook data.
– Select "Quick Scan" for minor errors or "Deep Scan" for severe corruption (deep scan takes longer but finds more).