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Thread: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

  1. #1
    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Work PC. IT Manager utterly useless when asked about how to "fix" this problem.

    Email data is stored on a central server (or one of several).

    I was in the middle of slimming down the archive email box (archive.pst) when Outlook just fell over (error message about how the archive.pst could not be found/opened etc. etc. Please close and try again). Now I get an error message of which I have googled and found the solution to be to run scanpst.exe (solution found on the office homepage). The odd thing is the scanpst.exe file finds errors with the archive.pst file but fails to fix it; instead I get a warning message about "delayed write error" - HOWEVER I copied the archive.pst file from the server to my local machine ran scanpst.exe again and found NO errors.

    So...any other information you guys need or can someone suggest a fix? What's wrong here?

    Oh the archive file is 2.31GB and we got a warning email a few weeks back that the limit is 2GB - hence me slimming it down.

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    It's good to be bad pauldarkside's Avatar
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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    PST files aren't supposed to be used over a network.

    That might be why your experiencing problems. I've done it myself in the past and did find run into performance issues as mentioned in the KB article. Not something I'd do again.
    My only concern is should I hide my true identity? A costume maybe?

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    sleepyhead (15-04-2009)

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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Is this an Outlook 2003 PST or a previous version? You can create "compatible" files in the previous format.

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    sleepyhead (15-04-2009)

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    Oh no!I've re-dorkalated! Jiff Lemon's Avatar
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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Pauldarkside speaketh the truth.

    PST's are evil. If you must use them, keep them on the local drive.

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    sleepyhead (15-04-2009)

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    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Sorted.

    Pointed IT Manager to the link and pointed to the archive on my desktop and hey presto, it's 100% working!

    Thanks all.

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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Yes, PSTs aren't supported by MS when accessed over the network, but even massive public and private companies & organisations all do it.

    If you have an even slightly unreliable network, don't access PSTs remotely, otherwise you'll get annoyed at inconsistent problems with any version of Outlook.

    If you do have problems with PSTs over the network (in 2003 type PSTs, anyway), it's likely that there is a deeper network problem - either a dodgy switch or an overloaded link somewhere.

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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Quote Originally Posted by smargh View Post
    Yes, PSTs aren't supported by MS when accessed over the network, but even massive public and private companies & organisations all do it.

    If you have an even slightly unreliable network, don't access PSTs remotely, otherwise you'll get annoyed at inconsistent problems with any version of Outlook.

    If you do have problems with PSTs over the network (in 2003 type PSTs, anyway), it's likely that there is a deeper network problem - either a dodgy switch or an overloaded link somewhere.
    I had a big argument with my now sacked IT manager about this, even providing links to the KB article mentioned in this thread and he still insisted that "it'll be fine"
    He was sacked for being an incompetent idiot and any enterprise that uses .pst's over the network is asking for trouble.
    "In a perfect world... spammers would get caught, go to jail, and share a cell with many men who have enlarged their penises, taken Viagra and are looking for a new relationship."

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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Quote Originally Posted by smargh View Post
    If you do have problems with PSTs over the network (in 2003 type PSTs, anyway), it's likely that there is a deeper network problem - either a dodgy switch or an overloaded link somewhere.
    This is one of the best explanations of just why PST's shouldn't be kept on a network share.

    For me, Archiving / PST's just generate far more trouble than they actually solve.

    A PST encourages a user to be downright lazy. Mailbox size warnings? Pah, archive everything into a PST. Before you know if, you're getting a call saying my PST won't open. Nothing to do with with 16GB of crud you dumped into it perhaps? Mail management is the answer, PST's aren't.

    Or the joys of the roaming profile? Oooooooo not fun.

    Or how about trying to back up those PSTs on local machines that have now been deemed mission critical?

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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    I think the big companies are moving to things like Symantec's Enterprise Vault now, which has its own quirks with Outlook (die, valkyrie.dll), but people still like to keep their multi-gigabytes PSTs Everyone is an information hoarder.

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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Surprising just how many large corporates use exactly this option (PST over network shares/NAS). As yet I've only had a single issue with them, and that was purely down to someone wishing to archive no less than 14,000 items of "junk mail" just in case something was missed they might need.
    Moo.

  14. #11
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    Re: Outlook 2003 Archive.PST weirdness

    Of course with server side archiving in Exchange 2010 the need for third party software AND PST files goes out of the window (assuming storage is available)

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