MS
Outlook is one of the popular desktop email clients, which stores
various data items such as emails, contacts, calendars, appointments
in its repository files. It is mainly associated with two file
formats, PST (Personal Storage Table) and OST (Offline Storage
Table). However, due to several issues related to OST file, users
prefer to save OST as PST file. This post is aimed to guide users
on How to save OST as PST
without
any data loss.
OST
files are
the offline files in Outlook, which are created when the MS Outlook
account is configured with Exchange Server. It allows users to work
in an offline mode and synchronize the changes made with Exchange
Server with availability of connection. Therefore, it can be said
that these files are helping hand for users in case of server
downtime or inaccessibility to Exchange Server.
Location
of OST:
The OST files are found at following location in Windows XP:
“Drive:\Documents
and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application data\Microsoft\Outlook”
PST
files serve
as a main repository storage file of MS Outlook account that is used
to store various Outlook items on the local computers. These files
are used for POP3, IMAP and web-based email accounts. These files can
be stored anywhere on the system and undergo backup of data easily.
Location:
By default, PST files are stored at following location in Windows XP:
“Drive:\Documents
and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application data\Microsoft\Outlook”
Issues
Related To OST Format
The
OST files are not much reliable to use, as they are highly prone to
file corruption and may easily lead to loss of data. OST files may
undergo corruption due to following reasons:
-
Improper shut down of Exchange Server
-
Different hardware and software failures
-
Interrupted synchronization between Exchange Server and OST file
-
Deletion of Exchange mailbox to which the OST file is associated.
So,
it is often advisable to save the OST files as PST file in order to
maintain the backup. These PST files, being more reliable and secure
helps user to cope up with the issue of corrupted OST files.
Trick
to Save OST as PST
There
exist a number of methods, which allows user to save OST files as
PST. The methods can be broadly categorized as:
A.
Manual Method
OST
file can be saved as PST manually by the user, without downloading
any additional applications in the following three ways:
1.
Export
Data to PST
The
in-built “Export”
utility
can be used to save the OST file as PST. It will allow users to
export the OST file as PST as well as CSV format. However, this
approach is not much effective as it leads to incomplete data
conversion.
2.
Move
to New PST
The
individual items of OST files can be dragged and dropped to a new PST
file. As each item needs to be moved individually to Outlook PST,
this method will be very time consuming in case of bulk- sized OST
file.
3.
Archive
Archiving
the mailbox items is one of the tricks to move the OST mailbox items
into PST format. This is useful mainly for complete OST file
archiving. However, contacts cannot be archived by this method.
B. Third
Party Applications
Another
alternative is to use any of the efficient third party applications
for OST to PST conversion. One such well-known software is OST
to PST Converter,
which allows user to save bulk OST files to PST within few easy
steps. Users can choose to save various OST items such as emails,
calendars, contacts, appointments into PST file format. The
attachments associated with the emails can be previewed and saved as
PST files. The tool also offers to recover damaged OST files. Hence,
it can be considered as an effective medium to save OST files as PST
without any data loss.
Conclusion
The
post has been focused to discuss the issues associated with OST
files, which leads to the need to save ost file as PST format various feasible solutions along with third party OST to PST Converter application have
been discussed in a clear manner to give a complete understanding to
user on how to save OST files as PST file.
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