Hi,

I regularly run Microsoft's Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) against my PST file(s).

It always seems to find and fix errors.  I ran it today (about two months since the last run), and I have attached the log file for reference.

I have been doing this for years, and I never seem to have any actual problems with Outlook or my PST file - its just a scheduled task and preventative maintenance.

I also note that, if I run the scan against the same PST file twice, it often finds errors the second run (and even subsequent runs).  I therefore, keep running it until it says it found no errors.

My question is:  Does everyone find and fix these (presumably minor) errors all the time when running scanpst.exe, or is it just me?  Is it indicative of something significantly wrong somewhere, or just part of life, run it, fix the errors, and move on.

I have over the years periodically created a brand new PST file, copied everything over, and kept the old one as a backup.  I probably did this last when I went from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 around two or three years ago, so its not like this is a single PST file that got corrupted years ago and has never 'recovered' fully from that.  Also, I get it on all my PST files.

Just to be clear, I always backup my PST file before running the tool (it also asks if you want to backup before repairing, but I do my own backup prior anyway), and I have never had any obvious issues being caused by errors in the file, so this is just a matter of curiosity really.

I have various machines with various versions of windows including:

WinXPPro SP3 - Outlook 2007
Win7Ultimate - Outlook 2010

The PST files vary in size up to about 1.5GB but even the smaller ones (100MB or less) seem to get errors that are fixed.

I seem to get the same issue on both of those, and if I recall correctly, I have had this going way back (probably to Win2K - Outlook 2000 and possibly Win98SE - Outlook 97 even).  No particular reason why I decided to ask this now, but things are quiet and I decided to see what others find!

Thanks

 No particular reason why I decided to ask this now, but things are quiet and I decided to see what others find!

Will give you my own personal take on running ScanPST for preventative purposes............

Short form: No need for it

Longer form: Having also used Outlook for as long as you have based on your description - the only time I've ever run ScanPST is <IF> there is something suddenly strange going - fortunately, that has been a rare occurrence - beyond that, don't waste the time on it since it will always find some minor issues no different that running a registry cleaner which always find something but seldom makes the least bit of difference to anything.

Here are the rules I follow in general:

#1 - If it ain't broke - don't fix it

#2 - In terms of ScanPST - always best to use the version that came with the Office suite that created the PST file. When migrating data - run ScanPST once prior to the new version of Outlook using the PST file to ensure that nothing gets "carried forward"

#3 - If the PST file is ANSI format (has the words 97-2002 in the PST file format description) - export it completely to created a Unicode PST file and change the Outlook profile to use the Unicode version. This is especially true if migrating to OL'2013+. <Ansi> PST files are supported but strongly advise against using them.

#4 - There are people who complain that their PST files are constantly getting corrupted on an on-going basis. Chances of that being caused purely by Outlook is "slim to none". Typicaly reason for on-going corruption issues come from 3rd party addins or things like sync apps. In this case, the priority is to fix the "cause" and not the resulting "symptom".

If Scan PSt shows no errors or issues when a New PST is Created
Then its most certain the somthing being copied over from the current PST into the new one is causing the errors

This could be anything but likley to be related to Calendar/Appointments/Reminders is being copied into the PST

Or Folder/Contents which may have been moved or deleted

Personally I wouldnt worry about it as the errors/repairs seem to be something of a Red Herring

I also wouldnt worry about running scanpst regurally for preventative measures as this does not gurantee the PST will not become corrupt over time or inacessible.

Once Corrupt and inacessible, more often than not SCANPST does not restore the PST/Data 100% 

Best measure your going to have against corruption, is a Backup

Put a backup plan in place to backup your PST and or Outlook
Outlook Repair Toolbox - https://www.outlookrepairtoolbox.com/

Alternatively you could just use Microsoft PST Backup Tool

Once you have a backup plan in place, you can relax on worring about regular maintenece.

Then should anything happen, you can quickly and easily roll back to the most recent backup with minimal loss

• Marked as answer by Danielson19996 17 hours 59 minutes ago