Operating MS Outlook application with damaged or corrupted PST files is undoubtedly a troublesome and frustrating situation. Your entire work schedule will be affected if you need to spend the whole day solving the PST file corruption problem. Additionally, if you don’t know how to solve it, the process will become more hectic. One of the best ways to solve PST file corruption is to prevent them in the first place. You can also deploy effective PST repair software so that you can repair the corrupted PST file without compromising time and effort.
To Prevent PST File Corruption: Some Helpful Tips
Frustration and corruption are linked with each other. Transferring the PST files from one location to another will ultimately cause the PST files to corrupt. Therefore, it’s best to follow some steps so that you can prevent the files from corruption. Repairing the corrupted pst with an advanced repair tool is the best solution. Continue reading the article to know more about PST file corruption.
Don’t Bloat Your PST File
Even though the MS Outlook 2003 and 2007 versions support PST file size of 20GB, the Outlook 2010 version comes with 50GB of PST file size. However, make sure the size of your PST file should not cross more than 15GB. This is because:
- Most operations with massive PST files are extremely slow and time-consuming.
- Large files often face corruption.
- Even though the MS Outlook SCANPST tool can fix some minor corruptions, if the size of the PST file is large, then the process will become highly time-consuming.
Outlook version 2003, 2007, and 2010 now allows users to open multiple PST files together in the left panel. Therefore, you should move the PST files from your emails into numerous diverse PST files with the Outlook rules. This way you can reduce the size of each PST file.
Make Sure the Old PST File Version Doesn’t Exceed 2GB
Microsoft Outlook 2002 and the previous versions restricted the size of the PST file to 2GB. Every time the size of the PST file is close to 2GB, you will face numerous problems. Not to mention, the PST files will become extremely vulnerable to corruption. This is why you need to ensure that the size of the PST file for the old MS Outlook version is less than 1.8GB. This is a good practice you need to remember.
Don’t Operate With Large Volume of Emails
MS Outlook will start malfunctioning if you start operating a massive number of emails at one time. This problem is known as deadlock. And after the dead-lock, you will have no choice but to shut down your MS Outlook application forcefully which might cause PST file corruption. You might also lose the PST data files permanently. The experimental limit of MS Outlook is 10,000 emails. Therefore, if you want to choose, copy, or move more than 10,000 emails, make sure you don’t try to complete the batch within one batch. Instead, consider operating 1,000 emails at once. Repeat the operations until your needs are fulfilled.
Don’t Save the PST Files on Server or Network Drive
PST files are designed in such a way that they should be stored properly on a computer hard drive. Make sure you don’t store the PST files on your server or local drive. This is because the network environment is not designed to support the dense access of the PST file. This is one of the most common causes of corruption. Additionally, don’t share the PST file on the network. Additionally, you should also prevent multiple users from accessing the same copy of the PST file via the network simultaneously. This will make the PST file prone to corruption. As per Promax, cloud storage comes with additional costs.
Don’t Close Outlook Application Forcefully When It’s Still Running
If you force close the MS Outlook software when the application is completing tasks or processes, then the PST files associated with the MS Outlook will be damaged and corrupted. Sometimes, the damages are so severe that the PST files will be corrupted permanently. Therefore, make sure you never use task manager to shut down your MS Outlook application abruptly.
Sometimes, Outlook will run in the background even if you close it. Therefore, make sure you check the background running application so that you don’t end up with a corrupted PST file.
Make Sure You Close Outlook Properly Before Powering Down Your Computer
This is another important point you need to remember so that you can prevent PST Outlook corruption. Make sure you close the MS Outlook application properly before you shut down your computer. Failing to do so will corrupt the PST data files and you might fail to recover them. Even if the process takes time, make sure the Outlook application is closed properly and not running in the background. You can also deploy some effective apps that will do this process on your behalf.
Conclusion
These are some best ways to prevent Outlook PST file corruption. If you have any other questions, make sure you let us know.
