Why Do You Need to Convert OST to PST?

Darcy Chug
3 min readOct 28, 2020

MS Outlook is one of the most widely used email clients in small as well as large organizations for internal and external communications. It holds two data files i.e. OST and PST files. Personal storage table (PST) file contains all the data stored in MS Outlook. On the other hand, OST files also known as Offline storage table holds the copy of entire data stored in Exchange server. It provides the facility to the users to work offline in the absence of Exchange Server. And it gets synchronized with the Exchange Server automatically when the Internet connectivity is re-established. However, there are chances when OST files become inaccessible. Hence, to cater such issue, one needs to convert Outlook OST file to PST file format to make it accessible.

Reasons to Convert OST to PST?

However, there are numerous reasons when users need to import OST into PST. Few of them are listed below.

1. Exchange Server Crash: Sometimes, Exchange Server gets crashed due to power failure, virus or malware attack, sudden system shutdown, or any other reasons. A severe Exchange Server crash could lead you to inaccessibility of Exchange Server.

2. Over-sized OST file issue: Over-sized OST file could be another reason to convert OST to PST. Different Outlook versions have a different size limitation. If the OST file size exceeded its default (20 GB) limit, it may hamper the performance of MS Outlook.

3. Exchange Server maintenance or downtime: During Exchange Server maintenance or downtime, users cannot access their mailboxes due to synchronization of OST file with Exchange Server. Hence, if users want to access their mailboxes during maintenance, they need to export OST files to Outlook PST and then import to MS Outlook program.

4. OST File accessibility issue: Accessing OST file and its associated data items to any other profile is a challenging task. You cannot transfer OST data from one computer to another as it requires its associated encryption code to validate. Therefore, users need to convert OST file to Outlook PST to access or transfer OST data from one place to another.

Apart from these above-stated errors, users may also come across following errors:

· Virus or malware attack

· Hardware issues

· Software issues

· The sudden termination of Outlook program

· sudden system shutdown

· Unintentional/Intentional deletion of a user profile

· Insufficient storage

However, to repair OST file, you can opt for Microsoft’s built-in utility called ScanPST.exe. It helps users to scan and repair both the OST and PST files.

Drawbacks of ScanPST.exe

· Repair only if the corruption is minor

· Unable to recover password-protected files

· Unable to recover permanently deleted items

· Complex and time-consuming process

Professional approach to convert OST to PST

DRS OST to PST Converter tool is designed with advanced algorithm to recover OST file from its worse state. Hence, it is a wise decision to convert OST to PST rather than repairing or fixing a corrupt OST file. The tool helps users to convert and restore entire inaccessible or corrupt OST file including emails, attachments, drafts, notes, tasks, appointments, drafts, links, lists, etc. to accessible Outlook PST.

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Darcy Chug

Forensic and data recovery and management expert. A TechGenix contributor as well.