Outlook 2003 error "... is not a personal folders file"

[Guest]

I made a back up copy of Outlook 2003 emails which opens fine in Outlook
2003. When I saved it to a CD for safekeeping, Outlook would not open it from
the CD (error message "You do not have the permission required to access the
file D:\XXX.pst" - properties says "read only" and I can't change this).
When I save from CD back to Hard Drive and attempt to open in Outlook 2003
again, I receive the error message "The file C:\XXX.pst is not a personal
folders file". I just want a CD copy that I can open as a back up. Can anyone
help?

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

You can't change the read-only property on a CD since CDs are, by nature,
read-only (once burned, etc). Once you've copied the file to your hard drive
did you remove the read-only property? Also, try running ScanPST.EXE on it
once its on your hard drive.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I made a back up copy of Outlook 2003 emails which opens fine in
Outlook 2003. When I saved it to a CD for safekeeping, Outlook would
not open it from the CD (error message "You do not have the
permission required to access the file D:\XXX.pst" - properties says
"read only" and I can't change this). When I save from CD back to
Hard Drive and attempt to open in Outlook 2003 again, I receive the
error message "The file C:\XXX.pst is not a personal folders file". I
just want a CD copy that I can open as a back up. Can anyone help?

Vince told you about copying it to the HD and removing the read-only
attribute, but the symptoms you describe are more indicative of a completely
corrupted PST. If SCANPST (or a commercial PST repair tool, if the data is
important enough) won't fix it, you're out of luck. The most common reason
this happens is that Outlook is open when you make the copy. While it's
anecdotal, I've also seen evidence that some CD burning apps don't do a good
job on PSTs.

 

[Guest]

I have a similar problem. After a complete reinstall following system
failure my pst no longer appears to believe it is a pst - well, 2 archives
(sadly old) do but the main 300 mb file doesn't. Checked read only etc but
makes no difference. Properties says 'file' and doesn't show correct icon.

Where do I find these scanpst items? Or are there other ways of recovering?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

State how you migrated this file. If you backed up the file by exporting it,
you may have copied it while Outlook was still holding a connection to it.
That will corrupt the file.
Did you search your hard drive for scanpst.exe?
If the Inbox Repair Tool fails to repair the PST file, you can use the
following tool to find out what can be fixed:
http://officerecovery.com/outlook/index.htm