Microsoft Exchange administrators everywhere know the feeling: a user has gigabytes and gigabytes of archived email in local .PST files - the Personal Storage Table file format used by Microsoft Outlook - because the alternative is to keep them on the Exchange server. However, reading PST files from a file server across the LAN or WAN can result in corruption during power failures or other events.

It's not just PST files - these are local stores of email and calendar and contact information on a user’s PC, but Outlook can also work with cached copies of Microsoft Exchange email using the OST file format. Fundamentally an OST file is a replica of a user’s mailbox from an Exchange server and any changes either on the server or within Outlook are mirrored back to each other. Typically if an OST file is corrupted you merely delete it and pull down all the email all over again. Well, provided the email is still on the server, that is. I’ve had countless times where people have wanted to recover old email, whether for legal reasons or otherwise, from an aged PC or backup and it turns out to be an OST file for a long-gone mail server.

Whatever the case, and no matter how it happened, if you have a PST file or an OST file needing repair you’re in a serious situation. Thankfully, there’s an aid in the form of SFWare’s Outlook PST Repair, part of the SFWare Data Recovery Tool suite of data recovery utilities. SFWare has apps to restore lost photos, repair hard drives and more, including Outlook PST Repair.

Now, for something which is so crucial when you need it, it operates with ease and simplicity. Point Outlook PST Repair at your PST file, or files, or even OST files, and let it do its work. The app only asks three questions; what’s the file to fix, where do you want to save the repaired copy, and which scan type of two options to use? It won’t overwrite or alter the original file in any way, making a brand new file. The scan types are either smart or normal, taking differing amounts of time depending on the degree of corruption.

Additionally, Outlook PST Repair supports Outlook file formats all the way back to Outlook 2000, and up to the latest, Outlook 2019. This, and the available free demo, should give all the comfort you need that this is a valuable tool for any Microsoft Exchange administrator or even any Outlook home user.

It will even effortlessly handle password protection, encryption and compression.

SFWare back the product with 24/7 technical assistance, included in the product’s one-off $US 49 price. What value do you put on your email? it’s pretty much a no-brainer, really, that this is well worth every cent.