What Is a PST File?
PST, short for Personal Storage Table, is an open file format that is used to store messages, contacts, attachments, addresses, calendar events, and other items in some Microsoft software products like Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Messaging, and Microsoft Exchange Client. Outlook is the primary program that uses the PST file format. Sometimes it may be also called an Offline Storage Table (.ost).
If you have a PST file and you can’t open it, it may be corrupted. You may try some professional free PST repair tools to fix the corrupted PST file. Check the tools below.
Top 6 Free PST Repair Tools
1. Scanpst.exe
Scanpst.exe is the built-in tool in Outlook that can help diagnose and repair minor errors in your Outlook data file (.pst). It can check the Outlook data file structure to check its problems.
In general, you can find the Scanpst.exe tool in the following locations on a 64-bit Windows computer. For the 32-bit system, you should go to the Program Files (x86) folder.
- Outlook 2019: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\
- Outlook 2016: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\
- Outlook 2013: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\
- Outlook 2010: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\
- Outlook 2007: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\
You can double-click the SANPST.EXE file to launch the PST repair tool. Click Browse to choose the corrupted PST file and click Start to start the repairing process. This tool will display the found issues in the PST file after it completes checking. You can click “Make backup of scanned file before repairing” and click Repair to start fixing the found errors. After it successfully repaired the PST file, you can find and open the file from its original location.
If Scanpst.exe failed to repair the corrupted PST file, you can try the other tools below.
Also read: Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or a casual computer user, this article on hard drive data recovery service is a must-read to safeguard your data and regain peace of mind.
2. Stellar Repair for Outlook
Stellar Repair for Outlook is a professional Outlook PST Repair tool that you can use to repair and extract mail items from a corrupted PST file. It helps you repair corrupted/damaged Outlook PST files, and retrieve emails, attachments, contacts, calendars, and deleted email items.
The free trial version of Stellar Repair for Outlook lets you scan and preview your recoverable mail items. If you are satisfied with the recovery result, you can choose to buy an advanced version of this program to save the recovered PST files.
You can download, install, and launch Stellar Repair for Outlook. Click the Select Outook Data File option under the Home tab. Then you can choose List Profiles or Choose Manually to find and select the target PST file. If you choose List Profiles, this software will identify and list all the available Outlook profiles on your computer. If want to choose the Outlook PST file manually, you can click Choose Manually and click Browse or Find to find and select the target PST file. Click Repair to start repairing the corrupted PST file. After it finishes repairing, you can preview the restored Outlook files, choose the wanted files, click Save Repaired File, and select PST file format to save the repaired PST files.
3. Remo Repair Outlook PST
If Outlook PST files get corrupted and can’t open, you can also try this free PST repair tool to repair them.
Remo PST Repair Tool comes with an advanced repair algorithm to help you repair PST files that are severely damaged, corrupted, or inaccessible. This tool can not only repair corrupted PST files but also recover all data like emails, contacts, notes, reminders, etc. It uses a read-only mechanism to make sure that no harm is done to the damaged PST file in the repair process.
This free PST fixing tool works for all versions of Outlook including the latest Outlook 2021.
You can launch the software after installing it. Click the Open PST File button to select the corrupted PST file that you want to repair. Select a scanning method and select the desired location where you want to save the repaired PST file. Then click the Repair button to start repairing the PST file.
4. Kernel for Outlook PST Repair
To fix a damaged Outlook PST file, you can also try Kernel for Outlook PST Repair. This tool helps you recover the user mailbox with its full structure and folders including inbox, contacts, drafts, tasks, deleted items, notes, etc.
This tool can search for PST files from the entire system drive and scan multiple files simultaneously. It can repair PST files from both ANSI and UNICODE formats and maintain their integrity.
It lets you save the emails in a new or existing PST file or other formats like MBOX, DBX, MSG, EML, TXT, RTF, HTML, or MHTML.
You can use this program to recover PST files from all versions of Outlook, including Outlook 2021.
5. Aryson Outlook PST Repair
You can also try this tool to recover data or emails from corrupt Outlook PST files. This free PST repair tool is capable of recovering corrupted data in the PST file and restoring deleted emails. You can save the repaired file in various output formats.
This tool can scan and restore all mailbox items like emails, calendars, contacts, etc. from a corrupted Outlook PST file. It also supports recovering encrypted and password-protected PST files. It keeps folder hierarchy intact in the recovery process. It also supports importing or exporting Outlook PST mailboxes to Mac Mail.
You can preview the recovered PST file data and save it in PST, MSG, MBOX, DBX, or EML format. This software allows you to export Outlook mail messages to Windows Live Mail.
6. Shoviv Outlook PST Repair Tool
This PST repair tool can scan and detect corrupted or inaccessible PST files and repair them. This program can fix the corrupted PST files without altering their original data. It also allows users to retrieve inaccessible or deleted data. You can export the repaired PST file in various formats. You can add large-sized PST files and it can also repair them at a fast speed. Its free version allows you to process the first 50 items per folder. It has a simple interface and supports all Microsoft Outlook versions and Windows operating systems. You can add multiple PST files to repair in batch.
How to Recover Deleted/Lost PST Files for Free
If you want to recover deleted or lost Outlook PST files, you can try a professional data recovery program.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a professional free data recovery software program for Windows. It lets you recover any deleted or lost data including emails, files, photos, videos, etc. from Windows computers, USB flash drives, SD/memory cards, external hard drives, and SSDs.
Aside from deleted file recovery, this program also helps you restore data from various data loss situations. You can use it to recover data from a corrupted hard drive, recover data from a mistakenly formatted hard drive, recover data after malware/virus infection, recover data after a system crash, or even recover data when the PC won’t boot.
Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your Windows PC or laptop, and check how to use it to recover deleted or lost PST files below.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
- Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
- Select a drive, location, or device to scan. You can select the target drive under Logical Drives, select a location under Recover From Specific Location, or click the Devices tab and select the whole device. Click Scan after selection.
- If you only want to scan and recover PST files, you can click the Scan Settings icon in the left panel before you choose the location to scan. In the Scan Settings window, you can only tick the E-mail category and select Outlook Data File (*.pst) and click OK.
- After the software finishes the scan, you can check the scan result to find the target PST files tick them and click Save to choose a new location to store the recovered PST files.
How to Open PST Files
A PST file can be opened with an email program like Outlook or Microsoft Exchange Server. Outlook Express can also import PST files, but it doesn’t save information to a PST file like Outlook.
To open and view PST files without Outlook, you can also use some third-party PST viewers like PST Viewer Pro, CoolUtils Outlook Viewer, Shoviv Outlook PST Viewer, Google GAMMO Tool, OST PST Viewer, Kernel Outlook PST Viewer, etc.
If you want to convert a PST file to another email format, you may try Stellar Converter for Outlook. It lets you convert PST to MBOX and you can then open the email with Apple Mail or Thunderbird.
Conclusion
This post introduces some professional PST repair tools to help you repair corrupted PST files. A free data recovery tool is also provided to help you recover deleted/lost PST files or any other data.
If you want to find more useful computer tools or tutorials, you may visit MiniTool Software official website. MiniTool Software also offers you the following free tools.
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MiniTool ShadowMaker is a professional PC backup software program. You can use this program to back up files, folders, partitions, or even the whole disk content to an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or network drive at a fast speed. It also lets you backup and restore Windows OS.
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