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Does anyone know an effective opensource tool to restore Outlook mail and address book without the .pst?

Yesterday, I turned on my computer and my .pst was 0 bytes - it was just wiped out, apparently. I know why this happened, but I need to try to recover the emails. I didn't have my backup system in place yet. I've tried a couple of restore file programs, but they haven't been effective.

Thanks
JJ

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Dani AI

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As noted that the .pst now reads 0 bytes, the practical, open-source path is a forensic workflow rather than a simple "one-click" repair. If the account was IMAP/Exchange the server copy may still exist (as asked). For a purely local PST the steps below give the best chance without paying for commercial recovery.

  1. Stop using the machine (no writes). Make a sector-level image of the disk first — do not work on the original drive. Use an imaging tool such as to preserve every readable sector.

  2. Try file carving on the image to find PST containers and fragments. PhotoRec (part of TestDisk) supports carving many formats and is a good open-source choice: PhotoRec. Success depends on whether PST data was overwritten or heavily fragmented.

  3. Parse any carved or found PSTs with open-source PST libraries/tools to extract messages and contacts. Two useful projects are libpff (tools like pffexport) and libpst/readpst, which can export mail and address-book items from PST files:

Notes and cautions: carved PSTs can be incomplete; fragmentation or overwrites reduce recoverability. Check for Volume Shadow Copies or any backup snapshots before carving. Avoid running chkdsk, defragmentation, or installing large software onto the affected drive. If the data is business-critical and these steps fail, a professional forensic service can image the disk with specialized tools.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

no

Member Avatar for WebDave

I didn't find one when I wanted to recover my mails . But then didn't bothered about it later. Is it really possible unless they are saved on to a web server or a local machine?

Member Avatar for JJBadger

It is theoretically possible to recover data on your local machine, because the data is not actually erased, just pointers to it are reset. So, if you have a program that can search the hard drive for the file headers, they can be found. I just tried several programs, but only found old email that I deleted.

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