Backing up Outlook can be a real pain in the butt. There are so many different work scenarios that it makes it difficult to present one clear best practice. However, I’m going to focus on the small business shops out there because I think that’s where the most mistakes takes place.
The #1 easist step to back up outlook is: to make sure that all of your email is forwarded to another account such as a gmail or hotmail account. That way, you don’t even have to backup Outlook if you don’t want to. This will ensure that even if that pesky PST file blows up you at least still have all of the history saved somewhere.
If you’re using a desktop computer, it’s always a good idea to store your PST file on the network. This will ensure that it’s on a more secure, more reliable system, and in most cases, is backed up daily.
You could always use a program like ION, but I would go with the first two first if at all possible and use ION on the server.
That leads me into the #1 you should NOT do when backing up Outlook. Many backup programs say that they can backup open files. While it may be true, they’re leaving out the fact that they can’t restore those backed up open files. Think about it, you are making a copy of a file that is in the process of changing. You wouldn’t try to jack up a car while it was rolling, would you? Kinda the same thing. Now, it doesn’t mean that you won’t successfully jack the car up sometimes, but there’s a good chance you’re going to see a podiatrist. So, sometimes, you’ll recover the files and sometimes you’ll be on the phone with a support guy screaming in the mist of futility.
The biggest thing to realize is that when you restore these files some or ALL of the file could be corrupt and it is very likely with Outlook files. One thing that I do like about ION is that it will actually close and re-open Outlook to ensure that you have a proper backup file.
If you want more info on Outlook backups just shoot me an email or post a comment. I’m happy to go into as much detail as you’d like.
-Howie H. Drive
1 comment so far ↓
There are two operational ways of using outlook. Local data store or as an exchange installation.
The former is the most common in singular or very small business environments. Outlook files are prone to crruption if they are “not managed correctly”.
“Not managed correcly” is quite lose as they can (and often do) become corrupt simply by exceeding a size, the recommeded limits of which pertain to the version of Outlook used and lady luck! More info as per below.
http://www.backupanytime.com/blog/2008/07/08/pst-file-too-big-for-its-boot/
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