The problem hits you when PST encounters corruption issues. The corruption-prone nature of the file affects the performance of Outlook and hence the ongoing tasks. There are various situations, such as virus infections, Outlook termination, dirty system shutdown, file header corruption, etc., that cause the file to go corrupt.
A damaged PST file does not allow you to get an access to any data item stored in Outlook; therefore, it becomes important to repair the file. In order to repair the PST file, we will here introduce an outstanding software program named Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair. Below given section provides a detailed review of the application, read through.
Stellar Data Recovery has released the fifth edition of the software after the success of its previous versions. The company has been working on all its developments to make their higher versions more robust, advanced, and enhanced in terms of features, functionality, smoothness, flexibility, and reliability.
Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair version 5 is an effective solution to repair a damaged MS Outlook PST file. The new release is fully loaded with more advanced features and enhanced functionality. The software achieves a successful repair by scanning the file thoroughly, repairing it, and then restoring all the items to a healthy PST file.
Moreover, the program promises to maintain the integrity and formatting of all the data items to be recovered through the entire process and restores the items with their original formatting. Look at the offerings of the software along with the things that may make users think whether they should go by the application or not.
Standard System Requirements for Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair 5.0
The minimum system requirements of the software are as follows:- Processor: Pentium Class
- Hard Disk: 50 MB of free space
- Memory: 512 MB
- Operating System: Windows 8 / Windows 7 / Windows Vista / Windows XP
- Internet Explorer: Version 6.0 or later
- MS Outlook: 2013 / 2010 / 2007 / 2003 / 2002 (XP) / 2000
Additions in Stellar PST Repair 5.0
• The software provides support for Microsoft Office 2013 and Microsoft Office 2010 (64 bit version)
• Possesses enhanced preview feature for tasks, journals, contacts, and calendars.
• Allows saving emails by right-clicking them from the preview window in various formats, such as EML, MSG, RTF, HTML, and PDF.
• Provides a new option to arrange email messages after scanning by Date, To, From, Type, Subject, Importance, and Attachment. It also allows you to arrange the emails in groups.
The below given section provides different testing scenarios under which the application has been verified with all successful outcomes.
The Outlook PST repair software has been thoroughly tested under a typical Windows 7 environment and the test included a severely corrupt Outlook PST file that specifically contained thousands of email messages along with attachments, contacts, calendar entries, notes, and other data items.
When we first launched the application, it showed the following user interface:
The main user interface contains various buttons and menus that allow users to get access to the features of the application that will be described in the next steps along with functionality of the software.
Next, select the corrupt PST file from the location you stored it; we kept it on the desktop. Alternatively, if you are not sure about the location, you can use 'Find Outlook File' option that will look for all the PST files on the system and display them. Once the file is selected, click on 'Start' to initiate the repair process to allow the software to start scanning and repairing.
Once scanning is done, it will provide a detailed list of all the items that can be recovered by the software. As we found, Preview is one of the most prominent features of the software as it lists all the recoverable items and allows you to select one or multiple items if you need not to recover all of them.
Since, the software was undergoing testing; we considered recovering all the items. However, the time taken by the application depends on the number of items being recovered.
Furthermore, the application allows you to save the recovered items in different file formats, such as MSG, EML, HTML, RTF, and PDF. You can choose to save in these formats from preview window.
On completion of the process, we got a new PST file with no damage or corruption that was successfully imported into Outlook. It is all the software actually is supposed to do. Moreover, the software prompts you to save the log report of the entire process; you can either save it for future reference or continue without saving.
In order to save the report, click on 'Log Report'. Note that it does not automatically save the report, if once you refused to save; you cannot view the report later.
The software also claims to recover lost items due to accidental deletion. Therefore, another test we did included the accidentally deleted emails the Inbox as well as Deleted Items folder. On completion of the recovery, all the deleted items with their original format displayed along with all the folders of the PST file.
We next targeted an encrypted Outlook PST file as the software is also designed to repair and recover a password protected PST. For this, we made an encrypted file go corrupt and then repaired it by using the software, results were all fine. This feature is particularly useful for the users who have crucial information and need to keep it all secure.
However, all the tests we mentioned above were performed on PST files of 2 GB or 20 GB capacity. The next and last testing included 50 GB, however, before letting you know the results, we would like to ink the PST size issue. Microsoft has imposed a limit on PST file in different Outlook versions.
The minimum limit is 2 GB while maximum has been reached 50 GB (in latest Outlook versions). PST goes corrupt and needs a repair when the data stored on the file reaches its maximum size limit. Whether PST is capable of containing 2 or 50 GBs, when the limit is reached, the file goes corrupt.
Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair has the ability to repair a file that has reached or gone beyond the 50 GB size limit. To check this functionality, we picked a healthy PST and kept adding data until it exceeded 50 GB. As the file became corrupt, it underwent repair and the software returned all the data in a new PST file.
Pricing
The professional edition of the software costs you $99. Therefore, there is not much of a price difference between Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair and other competitive applications.Pros:
- Deals with all levels of PST corruption and successfully recovers all the lost data
- Allows you to perform selective recovery of items
- Able to repair a PST file larger than 2 GB
- Provides preview of all the recoverable after scanning, including email messages, contacts, journals, notes, tasks, and other important items
- Covers repair and recovery of password protected files as well
- Provides good flexibility
- Offers an intuitive, understandable, and sleek user interface
- Does not require any special training for users to learn the software
- Supports all commonly used versions of Microsoft Outlook
- Claims to stay reliable throughout the entire repair process
Cons:
- Users may think for a while over the cost factor
- Organizations or individual users who are using Windows 98 (the count is very low though) cannot use the application
The Verdict:
The Outlook PST Repair is an ideal application for the users who are terribly in need of the data they have lost and can avoid the cost factor a bit. For another group of user that can compromise with the data, the software might not be highly required.Rating:
Under our test conditions, we found this good and give it 4.5/5 rating
* Note that the software is also available as a free version. You can use the demo version to see how the software works and whether it provides what it is supposed to. This version performs scanning, repair, and then displays a preview the same way the paid version does, however, it does not allow you to recover the items. In order to save recoverable items, you need to go for the paid version.
Faizan Ahmad About the Author:
This article is posted by Faizan who is the Author and Founder of TechSenser. He is a Professional Blogger from India and a passionate writer about Technology, Gadgets, How-to-Guides, etc. You can connect him on Google+.