Charlie, As the list guru Ed would say, PST = BAD.
OK, whether you knew that or not, it doesn't hurt to be reminded. From what you detail, it almost seems you answer your own question as to what do you do... PSTs are rarely a good solution. That you are opting to use them means that you accept the added difficulties (like the ones you are facing now) of storing/retrieving data kept in them. The limitations of PSTs are many... including the backing up issue from local drives, size, etc, etc, etc. Are you using Outlook 2003? The Cached Exchange mode is a huge benefit of that. Not to be too difficult, but to quote Ed again - there are seldom good technological solutions to behavioural problems. themolk. On Wed, 9 Mar 2005 07:17:06 -0800, Charlie Kaiser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We've fought this for years. There are always a few people in an > organization that absolutely need long-term mail storage. C*O, product > managers, etc. They're almost all laptop users, too. Since keeping 3 gig > mailboxes for them isn't really an option, and much of it is archive > anyway, I've developed a least-obnoxious strategy that seems to work > moderately well. > I give them large mailboxes; let's say up to a gig (normal limit is > about 250mb). We then create local PSTs* for them, and train them to > keep them relatively small (under 500mb). They may have 5 or 6 of them > in order to keep the PSTs small enough. I usually let people build large > PSTs, although I explain the hard limits on them and why they should be > kept smaller. They hit the 2 gig limit and lose it all one time. Sorry. > It's gone, pal. Better luck next time. The savvy ones get autoarchiving > set up to the appropriate PSTs too. > We also teach them to keep them separated by year, so a set of 2003 PSTs > will be separate from a set of 2004 PSTs. Once they're on-board with > this program (it's either this or "delete a bunch of your mail, > sparky"), we then write a small script that they can execute from their > desktop that will copy the PSTs to their file server home folder. They > are told to run that perhaps once a week if they make changes to the > PSTs. That keeps a copy of the PST on the server, where it is backed up > regularly. If their laptop smokes, we can recover the vast majority of > the mail in the PST. > Once they are no longer using the PST on a regular basis (for example, > the 2003 archives), we will disconnect the PSTs from OL, burn them to > CDs, and store. I make sure they're included in an end-of-month backup > that is stored offsite indefinitely, and then whack them from the server > to save space/backup. If they ever need it again, we copy them off the > CD to the laptop and remove the RO attribute. > It's a kludgy system, but it works on several levels. One, it preserves > the mail. Two, it puts a significant percentage of the pain back on the > end user, which encourages them to manage their mail more effectively. > Much of the mail that is saved at the time ends up getting deleted later > on, shrinking the PST by half or more. "Why did I save THAT?" Three, it > reduces the size of OSTs on the laptops and the potential for corruption > when mailboxes start getting huge. > Not perfect, but it has worked for me for many years. If you can > structure your mail system to eliminate PSTs, all the better. But > reality sometimes interferes with good system design. :-) > > * We don't run the PSTs from the server; too many issues with that. It > usually works, but when it doesn't, it's a real headache. Plus, not > supported. :-) > > > ********************** > Charlie Kaiser > MCSE, CCNA > Systems Engineer > Essex Credit / Brickwalk > 510 595 5083 > ********************** > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of Vivino, David > > Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 6:37 AM > > To: Exchange Discussions > > Subject: RE: PSTs keep on getting corrupted > > > > Seems there is a contradiction here. We don't want mailboxes > > to get too > > large so we have folks archiving their Outlook data. MS > > explains how to > > do it at > > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290847. > > The link posted earlier in this thread indicates MS doesn't > > support .pst > > on network drives. So what do we do to ensure the data is backed up > > properly? Buy everyone a copy of Backup Exec? I think not! What are > > some ways to resolve this dilemma? > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > > Behalf Of Fyodorov, Andrey FTL > > > Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 9:44 AM > > > To: Exchange Discussions > > > Subject: RE: PSTs keep on getting corrupted > > > > > > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of Uso > > > Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 4:03 AM > > > To: Exchange Discussions > > > Subject: Re: PSTs keep on getting corrupted > > > > > > > > > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019/EN-US/ > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > > > Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange > > > To subscribe: > > http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ > > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: > > > Jupitermedia Corp. > > > Attn: Discussion List Management > > > 475 Park Avenue South > > > New York, NY 10016 > > > > > > Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > > > Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange > > > To subscribe: > > http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ > > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: > > > Jupitermedia Corp. > > > Attn: Discussion List Management > > > 475 Park Avenue South > > > New York, NY 10016 > > > > > > Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > > Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange > > To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: > > Jupitermedia Corp. > > Attn: Discussion List Management > > 475 Park Avenue South > > New York, NY 10016 > > > > Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange > To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: > Jupitermedia Corp. > Attn: Discussion List Management > 475 Park Avenue South > New York, NY 10016 > > Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. > > _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. 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