Not enough space - what does that mean?

[Ranxle]

I have 4,500 emails in my inbox currently. No reply, delete command works
now, the message I get is : The file D:/Outlook/Outlook.pst could not be
accesssed. There is not enough space on the disk.

My C & D drive is using only 60% of the space available. I also ran a virus
scan, but no problem.

What do I do? Please suggest? What is the problem. These are important
mails. I tried taking a back-up on a DVD, but the verification process did
not get completed.

Need help.

 

[K. Orland]

If your version of Outlook is older than 2003, you have probably reached or
gone beyond the size limit for a PST or your PST has corrupted.

Close Outlook and run the inbox repair tool called scanpst.exe. Do a
file/folder search for it and then double-click it and follow the
instructions. It will ask you to browse to your PST file so it can scan. If
it finds errors during the scan, run it again until it finds no errors at
all. Then open Outlook and see if the problem is resolved.

If that doesn't solve it, post back with your version of Outlook and the
size of your PST.

 

[Norman]

I'm betting the later. Although 4500 sounds like many, I currently have 8600
unread and am only at 1 GB. He may have broken the 2 GB rule for 2K and
previous if he has a lot of attachments or he is not set up to compact in
the background or done a manual compaction. I think I would try the
compaction first if possible, especially if it had not been being done and
over time he has deleted a lot of mail leaving dead space in the pst. If you
can access the size of the store through outlook and then check the size of
the pst through windows explorer you will get a good indication of
compaction need. That is if looking at the file size within outlook, it may
appear to have not broken the size limit. But windows explorer can show a
much larger file indicating need of compaction. I had a 2 1/2 to 1 ratio on
one occasion that broke the size limit.
Compaction can take a long time to run if there is a lot of wasted space, so
be patient.
I have encountered the size issue problem as early as 1.5 GB once, but
usually starts around 1.8 GB, well short of the claimed 2 GB for OL2K. So I
tend to error on the safe side. And the same with running the scanpst.
Although I have not had the problem with newer versions, I had problems with
it completing a long time back and making a mess of the file scanned to the
point I was getting different errors. Making it hard to try alternatives is
not a good course of action and thus I make a backup of the file to be
scanned, even so far as to rename and simultaneously installing to reclaim
messages that may have been lost during scan. When this is possible, I would
move the lost ones to the new file until I found the errant message causing
the original problem.
If all goes well with the scanpst you should end up with the original pst
unchanged and a fixed one. Once satisfied just delete the old one and any
duplicates made to reclaim space. If added to your OL profile, remove first
and make sure addressing in services is pointing to correct contacts list,
if using contacts for addressing. I just got rid of a headache after having
two pst installed and removing the old one I ended up with contacts listed
twice in the addressing. Had to be one from each pst. Guessing, I believe
addressing list was pointing to contacts from old pst and did not get
dropped from list when that pst was removed. Result was that after
installing OAB and allowing contacts for address book, the old pst would be
relisted in the main window, but not under services, and tell me it could
not find the file using properties. TG for system restore and many attempts
at that. Finally got it straight by doing an immediate reboot after any
setting change. Go figure.
Hopefully this is a heads up to error on safe side.
Also noted he said D:, so did he install OL to D:, or did he move default
store. If moved, best be in My Documents where not affected by system
restore.
Good luck
Norman

 

[K. Orland]

Note that the number of emails doesn't matter, it's the size. You also have
to take into account Sent Items, Deleted Items, calendar entries, journal,
tasks, etc. They all count against your mailbox size. If you don't empty your
Deleted Items folder, those emails are also part of your mailbox as are any
subfolders that you create for filing.

 

[Centaur33]

I have 2003 version of Outlook. I had saved my old mails on a differnt location in my D Drive. Its file size crossed 4b and now im not able to open my old emails. I Tried to run scanpst but it says " There is not enough space to repair file. I have space in my D Drive.