5 Ways To Prevent PST file Corruption

A Personal Storage Table (.PST) is an file format used to store copies of messages, calendar events, and other items within Microsoft Outlook. The working of Microsoft Outlook is completely depends on PST file as it is main fire for storing data. When this files gets corrupt, it directly impacts the working of MS Outlook. There are several type of errors may cause due to corruption of PST file. Then we need to try different solutions to resolve errors. This takes more time and efforts.
To avoid all these overheads, better is to prevent PST file from corruption. Following are ways to protect your PST file:

1. Keep PST file size as small as possible by removing useless stuff regularly:

Its nothing but lesson of data management. To get best performance from system we need to avoid excessive space consumption. Although Outlook 2003 and 2007 supports PST files up to 20GB, while Outlook 2010, 2013, and 2016 supports 50 GB sized PST files, it is highly recommended to keep PST file size below 10 GB. This decrease the probability of corruptions and increase access speed. On older Outlook version the maximum size for PST file is 2GB. Don’t exceed this limit. Doing so may cause PST file corruption and Outlook errors.

2. Exit Outlook before you shut down your system:

Abnormal shutdown leads to inconsistent state of system. It can cause the PST to become corrupt, therefore, making the stored data items inaccessible To prevent corruption of PST file, always exit from Outlook before you shut down your computer. Make sure you closed Outlook before shut down.

3. Do NOT operate on large volume of emails:

Microsoft Outlook will dead-lock if you operate a large number of emails in one time and after dead-lock, you will have to shut-down Outlook abnormally which will very likely cause PST file corruption. Work with small batches to avoid such dead-lock.

4. Do NOT store your PST file on a network drive or server:

PST file is designed to store on local computers. Do NOT store it on a remote drive or server. Since it is not designed to operate over network the network environment cannot support dense access of the PST file and will cause the PST file corruption frequently. Also do NOT share the PST file on the network.

5. Keep eye on your antivirus program:

Do you think I am talking about scanning or protecting PST file? Then, you are completely wrong. Auto scanning, real time protection of antivirus leads to slow access speed of PST file. Antivirus slows down PST file access to protect your data. Some antivirus may corrupt your PST file too. So better is to monitor your antivirus regularly. Better is to scan file manually instead of enabling real time protection.
The above methods helps you to avoid corruptions of PST file and keep it healthy forever.