How Inbox Repair Tool Works To Corrects Errors?

By Author: Tech Bond
Total Articles: 17
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Scanpst.exe is executable file of Inbox Repair tool. After reading this article you will come to know how Inbox Repair tool works to validate and correct errors in the internal data structures of a .PST file. First of all, Inbox Repair tool checks for structures, such as BTrees and reference counts and repair them. These low-level objects have no knowledge of the upper-level structures, such as messages, calendar items, and so on, that are built upon them.
When scanpst.exe tool determines that a specific block of the structure or table is unreadable or corrupted, it simply removes it. If that block was part of a specific item in Outlook, the item will be removed when it is validated.
Folders and messages are the area where changes are more visible.
Folders
Scanpst.exe examines every folder in the .PST and performs the following operations:
ScanPST makes sure that there are the correct tables associated with the folder.
It checks every row in each table and makes sure that the message or the subfolder exists in the system.
If message or the subfolders are not found, it removes the ...
... row from the table or tries to validate the message or the folder.
If that validation fails, the message or folder is considered corrupted, and it is removed from the table and deleted from the database.
Corrupted folders are recreated from scratch as scanpst performs PST repair.
Messages
ScanPST performs the following operations on messages:
ScanPST does some basic validation of attachment tables and recipient tables.
As soon as the recipient table is validated to guarantee correctly formatted recipients, ScanPST makes any changes that are required to synchronize these valid recipient table contents to the recipient properties on the message. It also guarantees that the message's parent folder refers to a valid folder. The following message properties are checked to make sure that they follow valid data formats:
PR_MESSAGE_CLASS
ScanPST checks that this property exists. If the property does not exist, it is set to IPM.Note.
PR_MESSAGE_FLAGS
Each flag is validated separately.
PR_SUBMIT_FLAGS
This validation resembles the operation for message flags.
PR_CLIENT_SUBMIT_TIME
If the submit flags indicate that the message is marked as submitted, this property must exist. If not, the time is set to Now.
PR_SEARCH_KEY
This property must exist. If the property is not present, a random GUID is generated for it.
PR_CREATION_TIME
This property must exist. If the property is not present, the time is set to Now.
PR_LAST_MODIFICATION_TIME
This property must exist. If the property is not present, the time is set to Now.
PR_MESSAGE_SIZE
Sizes are recalculated and compared to stored values. If sizes differ by some delta, the calculated value is written.
This way Scanpst.exe (Inbox Repair) operates and checks for errors in corrupt PST file and resolve the same. Sometimes Inbox Repair tool fails to perform PST Repair. But using PST recovery software you are assured of complete and successful PST repair.