Just wondering, since Outlook 2003 allows PST files technically up to 20GB in size, but the Microsoft SCANPST.exe utility only works on files 2GB or less, is there a known 3rd party utility that will run a scan of a PST file over 2GB? If so, can you provide a name, or better yet, a link to a download of the product?

I used to run the SCANPST.exe utility on my PST file routinely, just as preventative maintance, but I can't now since it is over 2GB. If I had a 3rd party utility that I could use to scan my PST file routinely now that it is over 2GB, I would sleep a little better.

We understand the whole losing sleep thing. Until we knew what otolaryngology was, none of us here could sleep well either. Fortunately, we have a nursing student on staff, and she informed us that otolaryngology basically is the study of ear, nose, and throat and that otolaryngologists are often ear, nose, and throat specialists or head and neck surgeons. So now you know.

You also know what this means, don't you? Yep, bad puns. I can't help myself. I really, really can't.

So, at the risk of sticking my neck out, I'm going to suggest that running SCANPST routinely on your PST file isn't necessarily a good practice. What's a far better practice is saving backup copies of your PST file. I don't want to be snotty, but Microsoft doesn't recommend a regular run of SCANPST and we're not sure it's a good idea to go nosing around inside of the PST files on a regular basis.

Let's clear up a misconception that's got you all sniffly. The Inbox Repair Tool, also known as SCANPST.exe, does, in fact, work with Outlook 2007 and earlier, as Microsoft Knowledgebase Article 287497 describes.

However, there is one important limitation we need to give you a heads-up about. If you've converted a 2GB-limit Outlook 2000 PST file over to Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007, then you could run into some relatively troublesome problems that are nothing to sneeze at.

If you want to be sure your PST is of the most modern format, create a new PST file in Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007, open both PST files in Outlook, and drag your folders from one PST file to the other. It's kind of a headache to do it that way, and we wouldn't want to shove this technique down your throat, but we've heard it's one way to make sure your file is up to snuff.

I'm also including links below to two other OutlookPower articles that might get you headed in the right direction.

David Gewirtz is the author of How To Save Jobs and Where Have All The Emails Gone? For more than 20 years, he has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com and you can follow him at http://www.twitter.com/DavidGewirtz.