Backing up Outlook

[itsaplane]

I've had Restrospect 5.6 backing specific folders on PC's on our network for years. I've just started using Outlook (from Palm) and don't know HOW TO BACKUP OUTLOOK DATA FILES. Can anyone tell me where they are?

 

Thanks,

 

Eric

[kellyp]

I think you are asking where they are on the PC? If so, usually on the equivalent root drive they are put here:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

 

<username> would be replaced with your actual login name of course.

 

You would want to back up that whole folder usually since most people would have mail and an archive there as well.

 

-Kelly

[itsaplane]

Hi, thanks for your help with this.

 

I looked for the directory you suggeted -- but the path stops before it gets there... I found c:\Documents and Settings\eric (that's my login name)... but I did not find the rest of the path. There's no "Local Settings" here.

 

The path that is there is c:\Documents and Settings\eric\cookies; also desktop, favorites, start menu, my documents, .roescache, .Bayphoto. Note that "My Documents" is empty as this also apprears elsewhere on my hard drive.

 

Obviously, these files are elsewhere. Maybe there's another obvious location -- or if I knew the file names/extensions I could search for them?

 

Thanks again.

[awnews]

Where are you looking for the "c:\Documents and Settings\eric" files--on your harddisk or in the Retrospect backup set? If the former, you need to turn on "Show Hidden Files and Folders" under the Control Panel Folder Options-View pane (to see Local Settings, Application Data, etc.). Also, the files may not be under the \eric account if the program(s) were installed for use by everybody and they saved data in that manner (try \All Users, etc. also).

 

Searching usually won't find the fles (e.g. *.pst) if you have the Show hidden to hide stuff. Flip that setting first. You may also want to turn off the "Hide protected OS files" in this Folder Options->View area as well.

[kellyp]

I agree with GoAWest's method. Turn on the ability to see them, then just search for .pst files. That should locate them very quickly.

[itsaplane]

Okay, now we're making some progress!

 

Taking GoAWest and KellyP's suggestions, I turned on "Show Hidden Files and Folders" plus the Operating sytem files. That let me see the entire C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook path. And there, like the golden eggs, were two files:

 

Outlook.pst with 8,668KB, updated today and

extend.dat with 2KB, updated Oct. '03.

 

So, if I set outlook to go to this path and backup these two files, will I be backed up?

 

Thanks again.

[kellyp]

If you set Retrospect to back those up then yes, you're all set.

 

However, as a general rule, back up the directory if possible. When someone creates a new mail archive (which Outlook seems to always request you to do after a long period of use) then a new file is created in that directory. The default name is archive.pst.

 

Other files can be created there such as .nst files. It's been a while since I was a mail admin guy. Best bet, just back up the directory.

[itsaplane]

Thanks for your help!