Outlook Pst Backup Solution

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taonga

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Good day,

I'm looking for a backup solution for Outlook pst files (Office 2010).

The business has about 10 users and have to find out a way to backup pst files to the file server then external hard drive.
They use pop to download the emails. Some pst files have grown to 35GB and I've advised that they start by archiving the emails.

I'm also thinking of recommending moving to outlook 365 but I don't know much about it and cash is an issue.

Thanks
 
PST data file paths can be found under Account Settings-> Data file Tab. You can copy these manually and store them in a safe/reliable place. I've been through several machines and have successfully used this method to backup and restore email archives.
 
taonga said:
Good day,

I'm looking for a backup solution for Outlook pst files (Office 2010).

The business has about 10 users and have to find out a way to backup pst files to the file server then external hard drive.
They use pop to download the emails. Some pst files have grown to 35GB and I've advised that they start by archiving the emails.

I'm also thinking of recommending moving to outlook 365 but I don't know much about it and cash is an issue.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It would be best so setup a seperate machine and manually archive the mails using export.
35GB PST will take a very long file to be indexed using the search indexer. Now trying to find some mail in there would be needle in a haystack situation.

Rather archive the mails with rules set per year eg. 2010.2011.2012 etc. Then manually save those archives as suggested. If your 100% sure they will not be searching so much then the large pst file should be okay.
 
taonga said:
Good day,

I'm looking for a backup solution for Outlook pst files (Office 2010).

The business has about 10 users and have to find out a way to backup pst files to the file server then external hard drive.
They use pop to download the emails. Some pst files have grown to 35GB and I've advised that they start by archiving the emails.

I'm also thinking of recommending moving to outlook 365 but I don't know much about it and cash is an issue.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Sup

I would say the most reliable way is to use a .bat file with the a kill command to kill the outlook process every evening incase someone leaves their mails open, then after the kill command let it use xcopy to copy the .pst file to your backup location, and from there to the external backup drive.
You can schedule it to run at any convenient time with windows scheduler.

I'v got a template for you but it is at home and I can't remember all the switches right this moment xD
 
taonga said:
Good day,

I'm looking for a backup solution for Outlook pst files (Office 2010).

The business has about 10 users and have to find out a way to backup pst files to the file server then external hard drive.
They use pop to download the emails. Some pst files have grown to 35GB and I've advised that they start by archiving the emails.

I'm also thinking of recommending moving to outlook 365 but I don't know much about it and cash is an issue.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Office365 is the best bet. At R56/user/month for 50GB mailbox is the cheapest solution.
Also to backup PST, Outlook must be closed and you need to backup the entire file everytime. A 35GB will take time every day.
 
Thanks a lot, i think they will go for office 365. Thanks again
 
Archive the current emails. Get a computer backup computer/server on the network, I would suggest there is at least three 2 TB drives in it depending on your needs (Freenas use ZFS file system which has a very good raid system called raid-z). Install freenas 9.3 on it. Create a jail on the Freenas. Install urbackup into the jail. Install urbackup clients onto computers that needs to be backups and install the clients.

The pst files will backup even if the outlook is open. The only cost here is the backup server/computer the software is free.
Once the server is up minimum setup is required on the clients.

U can find guides here:
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/urbackup-installation-guide.22117/#post-132101
http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas.html
 
Insint said:
Archive the current emails. Get a computer backup computer/server on the network, I would suggest there is at least three 2 TB drives in it depending on your needs (Freenas use ZFS file system which has a very good raid system called raid-z). Install freenas 9.3 on it. Create a jail on the Freenas. Install urbackup into the jail. Install urbackup clients onto computers that needs to be backups and install the clients.

The pst files will backup even if the outlook is open. The only cost here is the backup server/computer the software is free.
Once the server is up minimum setup is required on the clients.

U can find guides here:
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/urbackup-installation-guide.22117/#post-132101
http://doc.freenas.org/9.3/freenas.html
Click to expand...

This looks great,will definately try this out
 
Office 365 is available in exchange only format.

Its pretty tough to beat its simplicity @ R50 per user per month for 50GB storage. Side benefit is users get mobile device synchronization as well as web based access to their email from any web browser.
 
Why not specify the path as a drive mapped to the server so all the mail resides on the server?
 
Speelteveel said:
Sup

I would say the most reliable way is to use a .bat file with the a kill command to kill the outlook process every evening incase someone leaves their mails open, then after the kill command let it use xcopy to copy the .pst file to your backup location, and from there to the external backup drive.
You can schedule it to run at any convenient time with windows scheduler.

I'v got a template for you but it is at home and I can't remember all the switches right this moment xD
Click to expand...

I've done something similar in the past - but used SyncBack to handle to copying of the files.
 
I have been using Cobian Backup 11 Gravity for my pst files and My Documents folder for more than 2 years, free, simple and efficient.
Have never come across something better.

It can kill processes and reopen them after the backup is done, do incremental backups only, schedule, etc.
 
Last edited:
Why not run a batch file that closes outlook and run a xcopy command at night when no ones around , or setup a mailserver
 
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