Industry: Healthcare Network (Multi-Hospital Organization)
Introduction
A health-care network with 14 hospitals and 38 outpatient clinics used Outlook with Exchange Server for email. During the migration to Microsoft 365, an unscheduled Exchange database failure occurred before all mailboxes were synced.
This left hundreds of Outlook users with only locally stored OST files that Outlook could not access, because the Exchange profiles were removed.
The Challenge
The IT department had to recover employee email data from inaccessible OST files before provisioning new Microsoft 365 accounts.
Environment statistics
Parameter | Value |
Employees total | 620 |
Exchange Server Version | Exchange Server 2019 |
Outlook Version | Outlook 2016 |
Total OST Files | 620 |
Total OST Size | 2.84 TB |
Average Size of OST File | 4.7 GB |
Largest OST File | 29.6 GB |
Total Emails | 8.76 Million |
Attachments | 742,000 |
Calendar Events | 214 K |
Contact | 89,500 |
Tasks | 31,800 |
The organization had several critical issues:
Exchange server database went down permanently.
Migration removed existing Outlook profiles.
Orphaned mode for OST files.
Outlook was no longer able to export mailbox data.
Patient communication history was mandated to be retained for compliance.
Manually recreating mailboxes would have lost lots of data.
Manual Recovery Attempts
First, the IT team attempted a manual recovery.
Tried Methods
Re-create Outlook profiles
ScanPST.exe utility
Import/Export Wizard
Recreate exchange mailbox
Profile synchronization caching
Manual Recovery Results
Parameter | Result |
Successfully Opened OST Files | 67 |
Emails Recoverable | 11% |
Time Taken | 5 Days |
Folder Structure | Lost |
Attachments | Partially Missing |
Suitable for Large Scale | No |
The manual process wasn’t a feasible option as orphaned OST files cannot be imported directly to Outlook.
Solution Implemented:
The IT department implemented Softaken OST to PST Converter, which has the ability to process multiple OST files at a time.
The software converted all the inaccessible OST mailboxes into PST format that can be opened in Outlook without disturbing the original mailbox hierarchy.
Conversion Metrics
Parameter | Result |
Converted OST Files | 620 |
Total Data Processed | 2.84 TB |
Emails Converted | 8.76 Million |
Found Attachments | 742,000 |
Calendar Items | 214,000 |
Contacts | 89,500 |
Conversion Time | 18h 27m |
Average Conversion Speed | 154 GB/hr |
Failed Files | 3 (Corrupted, unrecoverable) |
Conversion Rate Achievement | 99.5% |
Final Result
We had no substantial loss of email and successfully completed the migration project.
Results Obtained
Metric | Before | After |
Mailboxes Available | 0 | 617 |
Email Recovery Rate | 11% | 99.4% |
Folder Structure | Broken | Fully Preserved |
Attachments | Partially Missing | Fully Preserved |
Calendar | Partial | Complete |
Contacts | Partial | Complete |
Migration Time | Estimated 4 Weeks | Completed in Under 1 Day |
Benefits to the business
Recovered 8.7+ million business emails
More than 740,000 email attachments were recovered.
Maintained entire folder structure and metadata.
Reduced migration downtime from weeks to less than 24 hours.
Implemented fast PST import to newly created Microsoft 365 accounts.
Protected the loss of critical healthcare communication records.
Savings estimated at over 220 hours of manual recovery work.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Why the business needed an OST to PST Converter?
The Exchange Server failure left 620 Outlook users with orphaned OST files that Outlook could not access. An OST to PST Converter was needed to restore mailbox data and make it available for import into freshly formed Microsoft 365 accounts.
2. What is the volume of Outlook data being migrated?
The project retrieved 2.84 TB of mailbox data containing 8.76 million emails, 742,000 attachments, 214,000 calendar events, 89,500 contacts and 31,800 tasks with a 99.4% email recovery rate.
3. Why the manual recovery procedure did not work?
Manual procedures such as rebuilding Outlook profiles, ScanPST and the Import/Export Wizard did not work since orphaned OST files cannot be directly imported into Outlook. Of 620 OST files, 67 were accessible and a significant amount of data loss was observed.
4. How much time did the OST to PST conversion process take?
The conversion of 620 OST files (2.84 TB) was completed in around 18 hours 27 minutes, which brought the expected migration time down from four weeks to less than a day.
5. What business benefits did the organization get post conversion?
The organization was able to successfully restore 99.4% of mailbox data, maintain the original folder structure and metadata, minimize migration downtime, prevent the loss of important healthcare communications, save an estimated 220+ hours of manual recovery work and facilitate a seamless transition to Microsoft 365.
Conclusion
This project demonstrates the recovery of unavailable Outlook data due to Exchange server faults or migration problems using OST to PST Converter. Within 18 hours and 27 minutes, the firm converted 620 orphaned OST files (2.84 TB) into usable PST files and retrieved access to 99.4% of its mailbox data, including emails, attachments, calendars and contacts. The conversion was completed with minimal system outage and with the integrity of the data maintained for a seamless transfer to the new email environment.
