What has MS got against "2GB"?

P

Pete

Hi there,

I'm encountering two problems relating to size, one with MS Access database
files and intermittent problems with my Outlook personal folders.

I'll not focus on Access being in the Outlook group, but in both apps, it
appears files greater (or even approaching) 2GB in size causes issues. Why?
Surely in the age of cheap HDD, standard systems with 80Gb+, why are these
apps constrained?

In Outlook 2000 (running under W2K), I have numerous personal folders,
ranging in size from 600KB to about 1.3GB.

However, every now and then (as often as twice a day sometimes, but some
days not at all) I'll click on a personal folder and get a message about the
file not being accessible. But not just that personal folder, after that,
almost all of them become inaccessible.

I just can't for the life of me figure this out. Has it reached a point
where I need to create even more personal folders (I have about 13 now) just
to ensure the file sizes are kept under 1GB? Does anyone else have any
"storage strategies" they can share to help me manage my mails?

And of course, the big question, does anyone know if someday the MS 2GB
limit will be removed and we can enjoy the freedom we surely should expect
with today's software?

Cheers,
Pete
 
O

Oliver Vukovics

Dear Pete,

the problem with 2GB PST files are solved with Outlook 2003 Unicode PST
fiel.

The new PST file with Outlook 2003 have no limit. Normally the actual
information are arround 30GB limit but I also saw a posting that the new PSt
file have no limit. Outlook 2000 or 2002 does NOT support the new PST file,
only Outlook 2003.

You have to update to Outlook 2003 to solve your problem.
 
P

Pete

Thanks Oliver.

unfortunately it's a work computer and I'm stuck with OL2K until the company
upgrades (although I use OL2003 at home, so that's potentially good news).

Cheers,
Pete
 
R

Roady [MVP]

Well that limit has already been removed in Outlook 2003.

The old limit was a technical limit; FAT16 drives couldn't be any bigger
than 2GB. One day people will start complaining about the 4TB limit of
Outlook 2003 ;-)

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-What do the Outlook Icons Mean?
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1
 
D

Diane Poremsky [MVP]

2GB was, in part, a limitation of the file system - but as you already know,
Outlook 2003's Unicode pst answers the problem for the future.

In most cases, it's either low resources or something is accessing the
folders and has a lock on them. How much ram and what processor is in the
work computer? Do you have a lot of apps open? How many personal folders do
you use? Can you close some you don't use all the time? Do you use apps that
access the outlook data?



--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/
 
O

Oliver Vukovics

To maintain the PST files this steps could also be helpfull:

Start regularly "scanpst.exe".
http://www.slipstick.com/problems/scanpst.htm

Regularly compress the PST files (very important).
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6247-0.html?forumID=12&threadID=103136&mess
ageID=652031

All "folders" must have less than ~16.000 items (if big tables are not
selected)
All "folders" must have less than ~64.000 items (if big tables are selected)

To start regularly "fixmapi.exe"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=228457
"storage strategies"
Click to expand...

You can save also your emails as "msg" files directly on your Harddisk in
one or more folder. You can move your "old" emails directly from outlook
onto your harddisk. Try this at first with a few one, not with all emails,
but I would prefer Outlook 2003.
 
B

Brian Tillman

Oliver Vukovics said:
The new PST file with Outlook 2003 have no limit.
Click to expand...

Not true. The size value is kept in an unsigned four byte integer, which
maxes out at 4 terabytes.
Normally the actual
information are arround 30GB limit but I also saw a posting that the
new PSt file have no limit.
Click to expand...

The default limit is 20 Gb, according to Microsoft's Knowledgebase.
 
P

Pete

Hi Diane,

I have a P4 processor, 256MB of RAM. I generally don't keep apps open
(usually OL, Excel, and then whatever I need after that). I have about 13
personal folders, ranging from around 300MB to 1.3GB in size. I will close
some of the ones I only use infrequently to see if that helps.

Cheers,
Pete

Diane Poremsky said:
2GB was, in part, a limitation of the file system - but as you already
know, Outlook 2003's Unicode pst answers the problem for the future.

In most cases, it's either low resources or something is accessing the
folders and has a lock on them. How much ram and what processor is in the
work computer? Do you have a lot of apps open? How many personal folders
do you use? Can you close some you don't use all the time? Do you use apps
that access the outlook data?



--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

Pete said:
Hi there,

I'm encountering two problems relating to size, one with MS Access
database files and intermittent problems with my Outlook personal
folders.

I'll not focus on Access being in the Outlook group, but in both apps, it
appears files greater (or even approaching) 2GB in size causes issues.
Why? Surely in the age of cheap HDD, standard systems with 80Gb+, why are
these apps constrained?

In Outlook 2000 (running under W2K), I have numerous personal folders,
ranging in size from 600KB to about 1.3GB.

However, every now and then (as often as twice a day sometimes, but some
days not at all) I'll click on a personal folder and get a message about
the file not being accessible. But not just that personal folder, after
that, almost all of them become inaccessible.

I just can't for the life of me figure this out. Has it reached a point
where I need to create even more personal folders (I have about 13 now)
just to ensure the file sizes are kept under 1GB? Does anyone else have
any "storage strategies" they can share to help me manage my mails?

And of course, the big question, does anyone know if someday the MS 2GB
limit will be removed and we can enjoy the freedom we surely should
expect with today's software?

Cheers,
Pete
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
P

Pete

Me again,

I've closed as many personal folders as I can, certainly none of the
remaining folders are greater than 1gb in size, yet today, still, I
experienced (after about 4 hours of use) the same problem.

This is totally annoying me now and I can't stand it - why is it so hard to
get this to work????

AArrgghh!!

Pete

Pete said:
Hi Diane,

I have a P4 processor, 256MB of RAM. I generally don't keep apps open
(usually OL, Excel, and then whatever I need after that). I have about 13
personal folders, ranging from around 300MB to 1.3GB in size. I will close
some of the ones I only use infrequently to see if that helps.

Cheers,
Pete

Diane Poremsky said:
2GB was, in part, a limitation of the file system - but as you already
know, Outlook 2003's Unicode pst answers the problem for the future.

In most cases, it's either low resources or something is accessing the
folders and has a lock on them. How much ram and what processor is in the
work computer? Do you have a lot of apps open? How many personal folders
do you use? Can you close some you don't use all the time? Do you use
apps that access the outlook data?



--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

Pete said:
Hi there,

I'm encountering two problems relating to size, one with MS Access
database files and intermittent problems with my Outlook personal
folders.

I'll not focus on Access being in the Outlook group, but in both apps,
it appears files greater (or even approaching) 2GB in size causes
issues. Why? Surely in the age of cheap HDD, standard systems with
80Gb+, why are these apps constrained?

In Outlook 2000 (running under W2K), I have numerous personal folders,
ranging in size from 600KB to about 1.3GB.

However, every now and then (as often as twice a day sometimes, but some
days not at all) I'll click on a personal folder and get a message about
the file not being accessible. But not just that personal folder, after
that, almost all of them become inaccessible.

I just can't for the life of me figure this out. Has it reached a point
where I need to create even more personal folders (I have about 13 now)
just to ensure the file sizes are kept under 1GB? Does anyone else have
any "storage strategies" they can share to help me manage my mails?

And of course, the big question, does anyone know if someday the MS 2GB
limit will be removed and we can enjoy the freedom we surely should
expect with today's software?

Cheers,
Pete
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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