But the long-term solution is to start using eDiscovery software to open and review your PSTs.įixing corrupted PSTs might be your immediate challenge, but there are long-term eDiscovery problems you’ll need to solve, too.
And you can prove that it’s the same as the original by referencing its hash value (i.e., its digital fingerprint). Yes, you’ll change the ‘creation’ metadata field, but you’re limiting any further damage. However, if you have to process/fix a PST file, make a copy of it as a backup. And with cloud services like Gmail and Yahoo!, this is becoming more possible. Ideally, you want to stay away from PSTs altogether. Then, what can you do instead? The best option is to avoid PSTs where possible or at least back them up before fixing them. And copying a file to another folder will change its ‘creation date.’ (Remember, a copied file isn’t the same file anymore, and it gets a new creation time.) So, when fixing PSTs, you never quite know if you’re mistakenly changing metadata fields. For example, just opening a file can change its ‘last viewed’ metadata field. Metadata is valuable but also very fragile. The trouble is you never know if you’re changing vital metadata by fixing a PST. Similarly, a PowerPoint’s ‘user’ metadata field will list all the people that worked on it – which can prove whether someone unfairly took credit for your client’s work. For example, ‘file system’ metadata records the date and time a user plugs in a flash drive – which can tell you if/when someone transferred files off a computer. But all metadata is valuable and can help you win cases. Some of this information is easy to find (e.g., a file’s author), while some isn’t (e.g., every edit made to a document). Information like when the file was created, who created it, where it’s located, when it was last modified, and more. When you create a file, your computer stores a bunch of information about it. I.e., a record of everything that’s ever happened to it. And that’s ‘metadata.’ Think of metadata as a file’s digital footprint. Sure, a file’s contents can be very useful, but there’s something even more valuable. With eDiscovery, you’re looking at more than just surface-level data. But PST-repair isn’t ideal for eDiscovery because of how it might interact with file metadata. This doesn’t often happen, though, and even when it does, users are happy to sacrifice a few emails to get the bulk of their data back. If it spots an unreadable or corrupted ‘block’ in the database, it removes it – and perhaps also some emails, calendar entries, etc., in the process. (You’ll find it automatically installed with Outlook.) ScanPST goes into the internal structure of a PST database, checking and repairing errors as it comes across them. When Microsoft realized how often customers had issues with PSTs, they designed an Inbox Repair tool – called ScanPST – to fix the more common problems. Microsoft responded to this by creating a PST repair tool, which is great for day-to-day use.
For example, if multiple people try accessing a PST simultaneously over a network, it’ll likely get corrupted. But their biggest issue is how easily they get corrupted. Then there’s the fact that PSTs aren’t compatible with most applications outside the Microsoft ecosystem, making eDiscovery more difficult. So, if you’re using a PST on your work computer, you won’t also be able to use it on your smartphone while commuting. For one, they’re device-specific, which means you can’t access them from multiple locations. But PSTs were soon criticized for a major design flaw: they get corrupted easily.Īs great an innovation as they were, PSTs soon became a liability. More specifically, PSTs could store emails, attachments, calendar events, contact lists, and more in a way that other formats couldn’t. Microsoft developed PST (Personal Storage Table) files as a way of handling data for their Outlook email application. When PST files first came out, they were an ingenious new way to handle batches of emails.
It’ll help you solve other PST and email eDiscovery problems before they pop up. For the long-term, though, consider investing in the right eDiscovery software. The solution? Avoid PSTs where possible and create a backup first if you absolutely have to fix them. Takeaway: You can use Microsoft’s ScanPST tool to fix corrupted PST files, but remember that this might change valuable file metadata.
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