OST Integrity Check Tool to Repair and Restore OST File

An OST file is created to store mails and other contents of a mailbox on a client system. OST file, stored on the client system, is synchronized with the Exchange Server to update the OST content. Whenever MS Outlook is started, OST file gets updated. During the synchronization process, if OST file gets corrupt it will start displaying error messages. Accessing the mailbox from Outlook may become difficult due to damaged OST. At the least a damaged OST file may have some mails, items or folders as missing. If you witness any error messages or missing data in a OST file, run OST Integrity Check tool (Scanost.exe) to scan and repair your OST file.

Diagnosis and repair of damaged OST files can be done by the OST Integrity Check tool.  OST Integrity Check tool, also called as scanost.exe, is saved along with MS Outlook and located in C:\Program Files \Microsoft Office \OFFICE12 folder. Any issues formed while synchronization can be resolved by scanning the OST file using this tool. If you want to scan OST file for errors, MS Exchange Server must be connected to MS Outlook application. While scanning, the scanost.exe tool scans both the client mailbox and server mailbox simultaneously. Comparison is done to find any change or missing data in the OST file. Changes are done only to the OST file and the data in Exchange mailbox is left as it is. A log file is maintained by OST Integrity Check tool. It is stored in the ‘Deleted Items’ folder of MS Outlook mailbox. This log file can be later reviewed to see what differences have been found during scan and how many of them have been repaired. You can also fix the unresolved errors manually.

Repair OST File using OST Integrity Check Tool

To start repairing OST file, follow the underlying steps.

1.      Open OST file in MS Outlook.

2.      If you are not able to open the offline storage file, first repair it using "scanpst.exe" (Inbox Repair tool) and then scan it. Scanpst.exe can repair both PST and OST files. This process will repair any errors in the file structure of the OST file.

3.      After repair process is over, connect the MS Outlook client to MS Exchange Server. If you have set MS Outlook to start in Offline mode, switch it to online mode. This will connect Exchange and Outlook for comparison.

4.      Exit MS Outlook application.

5.      Run C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12\scanost.exe.

6.      If MS Outlook has multiple profiles, select the profile having the OST file in the OST Integrity Check tool.

7.      Click Connect in the Connect or Work Offline option.

8.      To automatically repair errors, select Repair Errors option.

9.      Click Begin Scan button to start scan and repair process.

Open the Deleted Items folder in MS Outlook to view log results.

If the above solution does not solve your problem, you can try OST To PSTConverter software to repair and restore a damaged or corrupted offline data (OST) file easily and safely !