If Microsoft Outlook starts complaining that either the .PST or .OST file is corrupt due to unexpected system shutdown you can run the SCANPST.EXE tool located in either C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 folder for Office 2007 or in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14 folder for Office 2010. The tool is designed to fix data file issues. It examines, repairs, and restores the damaged, unreadable, or corrupted PST file and recreates a fresh PST file with the same folder structure.
Be sure you shut down Outlook before running the tool.
The repair tool will usually fix the problem. If it does not, there are third party repair and recovery tools.
ADVICE: Always backup your PST/OST file. The MS Personal Folders Backup Add-in creates backup copies of your PST/OST files at regular intervals.
Here at Dirigo we manage more than a dozen dedicated mail servers plus managed services run by Intermedia and RackSpace. Messaging is business-critical! The very life of your business depends on users being able to communicate and collaborate anywhere and anytime. We support Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Mulberry, Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape Mail, Mozilla SeaMonkey, Eudora, MacMail, Entourage, PowerMail, Opera, SnapperMail, Chatteremail, Apple iPhone, VersaMail, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Android. By a margin of 5 to 1 our corporate customers rely on Microsoft Outlook. Outlook usage is followed by the iPhone, MacMail and Blackberry.
Naturally, the bulk of our support falls to MS Outlook. We like Outlook and are deployed internally on an MS Exchange Server using Outlook 2010. Exchange rocks now that it supports multiple Exchange mailboxes.