Guide on Fixing Frequent OST Corruption with Description of Its Occurrence


The blog will be making reader familiar from reasons of frequent OST corruption and workarounds to fix them. All hardware-related and software-related causes are discussed in the blog. One can also consider causes as preventive measures to be safe from the corruption in future.

Outlook OST file is replica of the user mailboxes saved in the Exchange server. Whenever the Exchange cached mode is activated, the file contributes in continuing functionality without any interruption. A situation occurs where users require working in the offline mode, either due to internet connectivity issue or any other reason. A local copy of mailbox gets created that equips functionality to access data in the offline mode. The OST file updates the data when it gets synced with the Exchange server, just after establishment of connection. This overall file working looks good in reading but, it is not at all easy. Alike other file formats and applications, OST files are highly prone to the corruption. Many times an OST file acts as the victim of improper internet connection.

An OST file gets corrupted whenever a process gets interrupted or suspended because of low internet connection. This condition causes results in something serious when affect is on the application functionality at a great extent. Besides all this, there exists other reasons also due to which Outlook storage data files becomes inaccessible. To make reasons understandable in more easier manner, we have categorized causes in two parts i.e., Hardware and software related causes.


Hardware-based Reasons For Frequent OST Corruption

The section comprises of problem that occurs because of system failure, malfunctioning, or improper configuration of the external computer components. These elements comprises of internal, hard drive, and modem, network connectors, internal or external power units, etc. There exists bundle of reasons that are affecting hardware elements and they are illustrated below :

Network Connectors Interruption :

Problems that occurs due to improper functionality of networking devices like cables, routers, network cards, etc., also affects OST files. It is so because an OST file gets synchronized with the network connection. If something went wrong in the connection then, it will surely affect OST files.

Impacted System Components :

If in case you are finding that storage components are working slower from their regular speed then, there might be bundle of corruption reasons like system bugs or hardware faults. One will be experiencing unexpected behavior of system storage components that are prone to malfunctioning or virus attack.

Sudden Power Loss or Surges :

Sometimes unexpected power failure also leads to OST file corruption. Generally, this happens when a person was working with file when sudden failure took place. Mostly this power failure occurs when electricity supply gets lost.

Damaged Sectors on the Hard Drive

One of the major reason of Outlook OST file corruption is this. The damaged sectors of hardware components causes corruption in OST file. It degrades performance of the file and thus, one day makes file inaccessible.


Frequent OST Corruption : Software-based Reasons

Sudden Outlook Termination :

When you have finished working with Microsoft Outlook emailing and other functions, close all the opened applications and dialog boxes. Do not forcefully terminate the file, which is running in background because it may turn on OST file corruption. In serious situations, the program itself will get frozen or crashed in an unexpected manner.

Specified OST File Size Limit :

Every person is provided with a particular limit of an OST file. When this limit gets exceeded, OST file will turn into inaccessible state and hence, a corrupt file. Now, users need to repair OST file for making file accessible. It is an advice to Outlook users that they should periodically split OST file to keep heavy data in an organized manner.

Lack of Proper Outlook Configuration :

There is a situation where there is only one reason of corruption i.e., the primary application itself. In this, it is hard to identify the actual cause of the problem but, an expert will be able to track it. Therefore, it is recommended that one should contact a person from developer's end to rectify the issue.

Incompatible Microsoft Outlook Add-in :

In few conditions, the problem is caused due to availability of add-ins in MS Outlook. To get rid off this problem, users need to disable COM add-ins from list of Outlook options. This can be done just by clicking on Options » Add-ins and then, clicking on Manage. Disable all the add-ins in one-by-one manner and simultaneously detect the actual add-in, which was creating issue.


Solutions to Fix Frequent OST Corruption

Whatever are the causes of problem, overall one have to face OST file corruption on one or the other day. Yes, it is true that the errors, which occurs because of logical inconsistencies are possible to fix. But, there is a problem in this. The problem is that users will be able to fix frequent OST corruption but, unable to regain back the corrupt data. So, the relevant solution for resolving OST corruption is Recover OST File Utility. The software thoroughly scans corrupt OST file and extracts data from it. The regained data can be saved in PST format for continuing working in Outlook. Tip : If you find that there is minimum level OST corruption then, you can utilize Microsoft in-built tool i.e., scanpst.exe. This will analyze and fix header part of corrupted file and rest data will be deleted to make file corruption free.

Time to Concluden

It is important to fix frequent OST corruption on time, in fact just after the detection. It is so because if the problem is ignored for a long then, it will be affecting other files also. Therefore, without wasting a single second choose the correct approach to be free from OST file corruption. Well, based upon the research and testing, we would like to suggest readers to leverage for third-party utility. The product will not only fix the error but, regain back all lost or corrupted data in its original formatting.