You'll get no argument from me on the PST=BAD bit. I was responding to
David's question about what people do to safeguard the data. I provided
our solution, which while not perfect, works. I never had a question. It
was David. :-)
My hardcore IT-based solution is "manage your mail more effectively".
But that's not always an option, so we make the compromises we have to.
My PST management system is relatively trouble free. I don't spend more
than a few hours a year on it. Acceptable tradeoff for me...

**********************
Charlie Kaiser
MCSE, CCNA
Systems Engineer
Essex Credit / Brickwalk
510 595 5083
**********************
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On 
> Behalf Of Steve Molkentin
> Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 2:56 PM
> To: Exchange Discussions
> Subject: Re: PSTs keep on getting corrupted
> 
> 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/
> > > >
> > > > 
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