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How to recover oversized PST / OST file which is 2Gb or more?

How to use the tool to create a truncated copy of the *.pst file? 

We are offering our online data recovery service for damaged PST and OST files conversion and recovery. Orphaned OST file can be converted to PST. Please download the online data recovery assistant to start the recovery. (Recovery Assistant is free software)

The maximum .pst file size was limited to a 2 GB (actually it is 1.933 GB) for Outlook 2000 version. If this limit is reached or exceeded, retrieval of data within the .pst file can be difficult if not impossible. In Outlook 2003 and 2007, the default maximum size is 20 GB, as set in the registry; though unicode PSTs are supported up to 33TB. When interfacing with ANSI .pst files in Outlook 2003 and 2007, the 2 GB limit remains in effect. By default, the limit for a Unicode .pst file in Outlook 2007 and in Outlook 2003 is configured to be 20 GB.

You may get the following error when you start the Microsoft Outlook or try to open a pst / ost file:
Errors have been detected in the file ...
Quit all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox Repair Tool.

The Inbox Repair Tool Scanpst.exe, does not resolve the problem of 2 gigabyte (GB) size limitation.

How to access an Outlook 2007 or 2003 .pst file from an earlier version of Outlook installed.

You should change the PST file back to an ANSI format as described:

1. Run the Outlook 2007 or 2003 version.
2. Click Data File Management on the File menu and then click Add.
3. Choose Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (PST).
4. Click OK to confirm.
5. Name the .pst file, or click OK to accept the default name.
6. Click OK to confirm.
7. Close the dialog.
8. At the bottom of navigation pane click Folder List item.
9. In the navigation pane, you will see your new .pst file that you named in step 5.
10. Drag the .pst file items (messages) from your existing Outlook 2007 or 2003 folders to the new .pst file which you created.

Note: If you have items that contain Unicode characters, they do not appear in the new .pst file.

You can now use the newly created .pst file in the earlier versions of Outlook.

How to find the cropping tool.

You should download it from Microsoft Download center. please refer to the Microsoft website to find and download it.

NOTE: The cropping tool is highly limited. It will create the new file which is not more that 2 GB, so you will lost the amount of data, which means that some messages will be missing from the recovered copy. It is not 100% successful. You should have at least 2 GB free space on your hard drive to make a copy of the personal folders file.

How to use the cropping tool.

Use the following steps to make a truncated copy of your PST file:
1. Download the cropping tool
2. Create the empty folder and extract the 2gb152.exe file to it.

You will get the following five files:

3. Run the Pst2gb.exe utility.
4. To select the oversized .pst file, click Browse and then click Open.
5. Choose Create item and select the location and file name that you want to create.
6. Click Save.
7. Enter the amount of the data that you want to truncate. There is not a correct amount, you can receive the best results if you use 20 to 25 MB, but you may have to truncate more or less. Increase the amount until the process is successful.
8. Process the truncated file with the scanpst.exe utility as it described on this page.

It is recommended but it is not optional to compact the recovered file after opening in Outlook:
- right-click the root folder of the .pst and choose Properties.
- then click Compact Now to start the compression.

NOTE: The compact operation can take take a lot of time.

If the file does not open, discard the truncated .pst file, and repeat the process with the original .pst file. Truncate more data than in the first attempt, and try the process again.

To prevent the PST data file corruption it is recommended :
• Do not allow the .pst file to exceed the 2 GB maximum size.
• Use more than one .pst file in your Outlook profile.
• Use the archive feature (compaction).
• Save attachments to a file system storage folder and do not store them inside email messages.

Read more - How to Recover Repaired Items.
Read more - How to Recover the oversized PST file which is grows up to 2Gb size limit.
(Using the PST / OST cropping tool)

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