Files & Folders

Get data out of a corrupted PST or MBOX mailbox

Mailboxes are single large container files, so partial damage rarely means total loss. The goal is to extract individual messages out of the container rather than to make the container itself perfect.

Stop doing this first

The safe order of operations

  1. 1

    Copy the mailbox file first — repair tools write in place.

  2. 2

    For PST, run Microsoft's Inbox Repair tool (scanpst.exe) on the copy.

  3. 3

    For OST, do not repair — recreate the cache from the server instead.

  4. 4

    For MBOX, split the file into individual messages and re-import what parses.

  5. 5

    Import recovered messages into a fresh profile, never into the damaged one.

Commands that do the work

Check an MBOX for message boundaries

grep -c '^From ' mail.mbox

Split MBOX into messages

formail -ds procmail < mail.mbox

Read the container's readable strings

strings -n 8 archive.pst | head -50

Realistic odds

Partially recoverable — most messages usually survive.

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