Automating .pst backups

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tobstar
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Tobstar

As IT guy I have to back up all of our information at work. Outlook is
the major pain in the ass as i have to export the individual folders
like contacts and sent items. As most IT people know the staff here
are totally unable to to this task so I have to go to all the pc's
export all folders they want to keep myself whenever we want to make a
backup.

Surely there is a way to tell outlook to export inbox, sentitems and
contacts on a regular basis? Am i missing a very easy way of backing
up or is this the best Microsoft can manage?

In an ideal world I set every pc to backup important outlook .pst's to
folder on the network where I can quickly set up an ISO. This would
take the whole process from a 1 hour job to a 30 seconder.

any ideas?
 
You should consider backing up the entire .pst file rather then just
folders. I know at my little circus, users like to make a separate folder
for each person they have ever had contact with / been introduced to or even
seen in the street. (exaggeration.) All of these folders could contain data
that they may need, and are not always located below the inbox or sent items
list. The calendar can also be vital to some workers. Backup the lot and
save your own ass.

This is just my opinion, and may not be suited to you, but I suggest;

1. Store all the pst files on a file server. (So just have to backup the
share on the server then.)

2. If the pst files are stored on the users machines (default location) you
could write a (very simple) batch file to "xcopy" the pst files to whatever
location on the network. This could be then set up as a scheduled task on
the client machines and done over-night.

3. On the same idea as above, you could write a batch file for "ntbackup" to
backup the specified folders/files for you, and also output a log so you can
easily check to see if it has completed successfully.
 
Search knowledge base for outlook backup executable.
Download and install on clients. Set save location to one
common network location. Be sure to rename the backup
file, as the default name is outlook.pst.
 
I am probably wrong, but I thought the outlook backup program asked the user
whether or not they wanted to perform the backup. It also cannot be
scheduled from memory and will only run when outlook is closed down.
As I said, I may be wrong.
 
Not that this may work for you or not.....try NTI Deluxe Bakup version 3.0
or later...not sure what the current release is...however make sure it is
the latest (there is a change that allows it to backup to a network drive
instead of a cd-burner) I use it for 8 people at the office.....you
probably only need one copy...and make sure that the .pst files on each
users machine is shared to allow an administrator to select the files from
the server, etc. There are really 2 choices.....depending on security...

1. install local copy on each machine and have them backup to your server,
etc.......
2. install one copy on server and access the shared directories where the
..pst sits.....

jr.....
 
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