Outlook PST Backup, Outlook Express, Eudora too.
It’s a fairly boring issue, but your email may be at risk if your hard-drive fails or your laptop goes missing. If you download your mail to your local system and you don’t have a backup, you could end up with an accidental clean slate. Exchange Server and webmail folks are excluded from this concern however because all of their mail is sitting on a server.
What do you do? In general, backing up an email program is fairly easy to do. The hard part is knowing what to backup. Some automatic backup software, like the ones included with external USB hard-drives, can help by automatically selecting what needs to be copied (or simply copying everything on your system). If you’re not sure, here are some ways you can make sure that your email is protected.
Outlook
Outlook stores everything in one file. Finding that file is hard for a novice. Luckily, there is a free add-in from Microsoft that reminds you and then does it for you too. It’s not very beautiful, but it works. On exiting Outlook, it will regularly remind you according to a schedule you set. All you need is a server or an external drive to store it on.
Outlook Express
This one is a bit trickier since Outlook Express stores your mail in arcane, buried folders. Microsoft’s procedure for this is preposterous for the average user. A better solution is the freeware MailStore Home by deepinvent. It does most of the heavy lifting for you. Write yourself a reminder though, because the software doesn’t schedule backups automatically.
Eudora
Though it’s fallen out of favor, we still have some users who couldn’t live without Eudora. This one is relatively easy. You just need to copy the entire Eudora folder to your backup drive. You can even more your program to a new computer this way! Here is the official write-up.
One Response to “Outlook PST Backup, Outlook Express, Eudora too.”
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True but for organization where you have tens and possibly hundred of users a nice choice is EdgeSafe PST2PST Backup… It have a scheduler, can run while Outlook is open, and will create Outlook compatible backup file. (http://www.datamills.com)