How to neatly deal with oversized OST files?
OST file or Offline Folder File is a local copy of your Exchange mailbox which contains all information and data which is similar to the data stored in the mailbox on Exchange Server. An OST file let's user to access information stored in it even they are not connected to the internet and to the main server. OST corruption can happen due to various reasons like, if the data storage device fails or due to networking connection failure and also due to sudden power failure which abruptly shuts down Outlook client. However, the most important reason for OST corruption is exceeding the maximum memory size of 2GB.
It is therefore important to limit the size of OST file to below 2GB to prevent corruption. Most people forget to take a note of this problem and let the OST file to bulge up above its maximum capacity. Unfortunately Microsoft has not provided any automated tool in Outlook to warn users when the OST file is begins to cross the maximum capacity. However, Microsoft has provided a specialized tool to deal with the problem of over sizing in OST file. The tool is known as 'OST crop tool' which can create a truncated copy of the .ost file. The copy that you will get after the truncation process will not have the original data as it cuts a certain amount of data from the file. If you are keen to retain all the data stored in the OST file then you might have to take the help of external third party software to deal with this problem.
If you wish to use the 'OST crop tool' you need to ensure that you have 2GB of free hard disk space in your computer. You can download the tool from Microsoft's website at the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B33B1DFF-6F50-411D-BBDF-82019DDA602E
