u/Stephen1729

I use Office Pro 2016. I have an old POP email account and I save my emails in PST files on my Windows 11 Pro desktop. I have 15 years worth of emails saved in a number of PST files. Last year my 2019-25 PST started losing emails and Scanpst started reporting errors it couldn't fix so I partioned it into two smaller PST files. Everything seemed to be OK with scanpst reporting "small discrepencies not worth fixing" with the partitioned PST files

Today Outlook choked on loading trying to resolve integrity issues. Scanpst showed errors but multiple runs of scanpst couldn't fix them. The logs were unintelligible to me. For example "!!AMap page <@970368000> has csFree of 128, but should have 255"

Should I hire in a pro IT support guy to fix the PST? Or are there well regarded tools that are worth buying that I could use to fix the issues myself? The PST is still readable but I have over two years of emails in it which i do not want to lose if it croaks.

My idea was to create a virgin unused PST and start filling it with new emails so whatever happens future emails are safe and the faulty PST won't have anything added to it. I use Macrium Reflect and have four months of daily backups to also mitigate the risk.

But the the new virgin PST is now also exhibiting "minor" inconsistencies (according to scanpst) so I am annoyed and worried. It is only two hours old and has 12 emails in it but it already showing signs of corruption . WTF?????

I would appreciate any advice as to what do next. I have used Outlook with PST files for 25 years and never seen anything like this. My system is stable. No power outages. No loss of power while a PST was open. No evidence of malware (I used BitDefender and MS Defender) I don't understand why things have become so unstable and what I can do about it. I am not sure I trust scanpst. Perhaps the errors it is reporting are bogus? Should I get a "professional tool" and which one?

Would appreciate any thinghts/advice from old hands. Thank you

PS: a couple of weeks ago I did a compress on the PST that started showing corruption today. Coincidence or a smoking gun?

I am not a camper but I though that people here would know something about cool boxes!

My beloved AEG under the counter frost free freezer died recently so after 15 years I am having to go back to an ordinary freezer and the grind of defrosting the frreezer every six months or so. Rather than relying on friends to store my frozen food I was thinking whether a cool box could store the food for the day it will take to defrost the freezer (Bosch under the counter). Obviously the food has to stay frozen otherwise it is a waste of time!

I'd appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences with cool boxes and whether they think any cool boxes on the market would be up to the job. My physics tells me I need to close pack it with food and overlay the food with ice or frozen freezer blocks to have any chance of success.

I am not looking for expensive powered devices. Just wanted to know whether the run of the mill insulated box would do the job.

Many thanks for any suggestions/comments