I need access to the .OST file format information so that I can determine what part of the file is ok and which part is corrupted

Question

Could someone please point me in the direction of where I can get the file format(s) for the .OST file so that I can get this information deciphered and meet the demands placed upon on me.. ( we have a disk that has ben recovered and we need to recover as many emails as possible from the corrupted file.)

If this is not possible for some reason I need to know if there is a legal reason or a we havent gotten to it yet reason. if there is a legal reason I need to know it so I can report back those findings so that the litigants and judge can determine what needs to be done to get the information. if it is just a case of.. we're getting around to it. please provide whatever you have in whatever format so that I can meet the needs of the court (meaning its not important thats its not ready for prime time give us what you have and allow us to figure out the rest.. if we have a problem we'll reach out.. A sample would be great but all headers etc are required..

Cheers,

 /\/\ark

Answer 1

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your question.  A colleague will follow up with you soon to investigate this issue.

Regards,
Mark Miller
Escalation Engineer
US-CSS DSC PROTOCOL TEAM

Answer 2

 

Hi Mark,

 

Thank you for your request for documentation specifying the .OST file format.  We currently do not publish such a specification and have no plans in the future to do so.   I can tell you that the .OST file format is largely identical to the .PST format specified in MS-PST.   Also, you might find the following tools useful: PST File Format SDK and PST Data Structure View Tool (available on Codeplex.com).

 

Best regards,

Tom Jebo

Escalation Engineer

Microsoft Open Specifications