Outlook .pst备份文件无法识别且SCANPST修复无效的技术求助

Hey there, let's work through your PST file problem together—this is a super common headache with older, oversized PSTs, so let's break down what's going on and your next steps.

First, let's nail down the root cause: You mentioned the PST is over 10GB, and you know older PSTs have a 2GB limit. That 2GB cap applies to ANSI-format PST files, which was the standard for Outlook 2003 and earlier. Even though your emails are from 2012, if the PST was originally created in an older version or never converted to Unicode, hitting that 2GB mark would have caused the file to become severely corrupted. That's why Outlook is throwing the .pst is not an Outlook Data file error, and why Microsoft's SCANPST.exe couldn't fix it—SCANPST is great for minor corruption, but it struggles with files that blew past the ANSI size limit completely.

Now, here's what you can try next:

• First, make a full backup of the original PST file before doing anything else. I can't stress this enough—you don't want to risk losing what's left of your data by messing with the only copy.
• Try third-party PST repair tools designed for large/corrupted ANSI PSTs. Look for tools that explicitly support repairing PSTs over 2GB and converting them to Unicode format (which has a 50GB default limit, way more than you need). Most of these tools can scan the damaged file, recover recoverable emails, and output a working Unicode PST that Outlook can recognize.
• Quick pre-check: If your PST is stored on an external drive or network share, copy it to your local hard drive first. Sometimes permission issues or slow read speeds can make Outlook misidentify a PST file, even if it's partially corrupted.

It's unlikely the file is completely unrecoverable—most 2GB-limit PST corruptions are fixable with specialized tools, since the data is still there, just the file structure got broken when it exceeded the size cap.

备注：内容来源于stack exchange，提问作者Sohan