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I have a PST file which Outlook can not read - it is giving the error Header information cannot be loaded, plase contact administrator.

I have tried Microsoft's scanpst and PST Size Reducer applications, but neither was able to fix this error. Is there a (preferably free) PST repair/splitter application that might work?

Gerald Schneider
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Jacob
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1 Answers1

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The Microsoft PST reducing tool is crude, but it works. It chops off random stuff from your PST just to get it under the 2GB limit, so you have no idea what you are losing. Anyway, once that was done, did you run Scanpst against the newly reduced file? That is a requirement of the tool.

DanBig
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  • After I run the reducer and try to run scanpst. It gets to Step 6 or 7 and gives an error "An error has occurred which caused the scan to be stopped. No changes made of the scanned file." – Jacob Nov 19 '09 at 14:41
  • How big is this .pst file anyway? – DanBig Nov 19 '09 at 14:45
  • now, it's 1.5 gb. I reduced it 500 mb. The error in the scanpst log is Fatal Error: 80040834 – Jacob Nov 19 '09 at 14:46
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    The PST is probably hosed. I've used the full version of this software before and it worked like a charm, download the demo and see if you are able to recover some data. You will not be able to do a full recover with the demo, but it should give you a good idea. http://www.officerecovery.com/outlook/index.htm – DanBig Nov 19 '09 at 15:48
  • Thanks. I bought a 3rd party program and it recovered some of the messages and contacts, but it put them in an (Unknown) folder and the user tells me all the contacts she actually used has blank data. Thanks for the recommendation on the software though. – Jacob Nov 19 '09 at 17:27
  • I don't think there is a free PST recovery program out there, so I guess I'll close this question. Thanks for your input. – Jacob Nov 19 '09 at 17:44