Multiple IDs - want to read ost files

[susanh]

I wish to clean up my files. I have used various IDs over the years and find
that I have a number of ost files on my hard drive. I would like to find a
way to be able to read these files to see if I want to keep them or delete
them. How can I do this?

I am no longer connected to the exchange servers - have moved around a lot,
but need to ensure I am not deleting data I may need later. Various techie
people have promised they've made my data available for use, but if the OST
file is all they've left me, how can I read them?

 

[Patrick Reed]

If you still have the original profiles configured in Outlook from which
each OST file was created, AND you haven't tried to open Outlook online
using these profiles since your mailboxes were changed/removed on their
respective Exchange Server(s), you could change the properties for each
profile to work offline. At that point you theoretically should be able to
open Oultook working from the OST offline and copy the contents to a PST
file. These are big "if's", though. More than likely, what I just described
is not the case in your situation.

The OST files are tied to their respective Exchange mailboxes. If Outlook
has discovered the mailbox is no longer available/valid (basically, by
attempting to connect to Exchange), it won't allow you access to the OST
anymore.

As far as I know, in this case, you're left with trying to use a third-party
tool to recover the contents of these orphaned OST files. I have never used
anything like this before, so I'm not sure what to recommend. You're
basically hacking through the security for data belonging to a company
mailbox that's no longer yours. OST2PST seems to be the popular one out
there. I even saw a post where someone claimed they renamed an OST with a
..PST extension and then ran SCANPST (should be included with your install of
Outlook - search in C:\Program FIles) on it several times... and were able
to recover data. Personally, I don't believe that.

Anyway, a search on google will produce numerous hits on "recover OST file"
offering their software to do this.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Since you acquired them "over the years" the profile that they were
associated with is probably long gone - if so, you'll need a 3rd party tool
to recover the contents. If the profile exists or if you just recently
deleted it and can recover it using system restore, you can export the
contents to a pst.


See http://www.slipstick.com/problems/repair2gbpst.asp for some tools which
will work with orphaned ost's.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]





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