There was a time when using PST files were thought to be the solution to file storage problems. Getting emails out of the user’s mailbox and onto a shared repository not only freed up email inboxes from increasing file sizes, but also gave admins a central location in which all emails could be backed up and archived.

Add to these benefits the fact that PST files could be separated so emails related to a project, client, subject, etc could be stored and archived separately, and many would think that this solution was all that an IT department would need to manage their archiving and storage needs.

Of course PST files aren’t a panacea; they have many problems associated with them.

Working offline

More and more frequently, workers find themselves working remotely. When this happens, they don’t always have access to network resources so they find themselves working offline. This makes accessing PST files stored on a network device difficult, if not impossible, to use.

Workers who need to refer back to emails in their personal folders are pretty much out of luck.

Another, more common situation, arises when PST files are stored on a desktop computer at the home office and a remote worker is using a different computer; let’s say a laptop at home.

This user could not access his or her PST files if they cannot access that desktop computer where the file is housed. Now you may wonder why anyone would keep their PST files on the local computer as opposed to a shared network resource, but the scenario is actually quite common.

In fact, it was considered a best practice since Exchange 4.0.

According to the Technet blog:

“A .pst file is a file-access-driven method of message storage. File-access-driven means that the computer uses special file access commands that the operating system provides to read and write data to the file.

This is not efficient on WAN or LAN links because WAN/LAN links use network-access-driven methods, commands the operating system provides to send data to or receive from another networked computer. If there is a remote .pst (over a network link), Microsoft Outlook tries to use the file commands to read from the file or write to the file, but the operating system then has to send those commands over the network because the file is not on the local computer. This creates a great deal of overhead and increases the time it takes to read and write to the file. Additionally, the use of a .pst file over a network connection may result in a corrupted .pst file if the connection degrades or fails.”

Bad files

Anyone who has worked with PST files knows that they have a tendency to become corrupted or damaged. There is an entire industry dedicated to developing tools to help email administrators fix damaged PST files, and Microsoft themselves have published a number of tools to help fix specific problems.

These problems can occur due to hardware failures, such as:

• A failure in the storage device
• A power failure
• Failure in a networking device
• Failure in the network infrastructure

Of course, the software itself also has been known to create problems:

• Incorrect file system recovery where PST data is incomplete or incorrect
• Malware infections that damage PST files
• Outlook being terminated abnormally
• Deficiencies in Outlook itself

Regardless of what caused the problem, if you encounter damaged PST files it costs money to repair them. It can cost even more if you are required to provide information from them but can’t because they are corrupted.

The intent behind personal storage tables makes perfect sense. However, in practice email administrators need to find a better solution if they want to stop wasting time with the hassles presented to them by Outlook’s PST problems.

Solutions that are made to be stored on network file stores and less likely to be corrupted by common tasks, not only make life easier for the IT department, but legal departments as well, since accurate, reliable information can be provided when it is requested, not when a company eventually finds a specialist to piece everything together.