How do I manually back up my Outlook PST file?
So I got a frantic phone call yesterday from a buddy of mine who lost his PST file due to a crashed hard drive.
The thing is this guy normally backs up EVERYTHING! I was shocked he didn’t have another copy ready to go.
When I asked him why he didn’t back up his PST file regularly he kind of stared at me like a deer caught in my headlights and e said:
“Whats a PST? Is that like pssssst?” He made a come here gesture with his finger and I laughed.
So here we go! Your PST file is where Outlook stores your information like email and calendar information, on your local machine. These directions will do for all outlooks 97 or better.
First things first; we need to shutdown outlook and locate your PST file. So just follow these easy steps and you will be golden.
- Search your PC for *.PST and make sure you select search hidden files and folders is checked. Also make sure there is a check box next to search system folders.
- Highlight your PST file on the right it will be the one with the most recent access date.
- Right Click — Copy
- Paste your file to a USB memory stick, dvd, cd-r or a network share. (Make sure outlook is closed or you will not be able to perform this step!)
You can now rest easily that all of your contacts and saved email pictures of your friend with a felt tipped mustache will be saved forever – or until you destroy the disk!
Come back for how to archive data out of your PST to make it smaller.
_TheBackedUpAdmiN_
June 29, 2007 - 7:34 pm
just what i needed how did you know?
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October 29, 2007 - 7:21 pm
another idea, is while outlook is open you can make a new pst file in the folder of your choosing, this makes remembering to back it up much less painful.
Just go to file, new, outlook data file. then tell outlook where to make the file and what to call it.
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May 10, 2008 - 9:20 am
You guys always know what I need before I need it! Thanx
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May 10, 2008 - 12:33 pm
There is a free utility called Amic Email Backup which can backup mail files, account settings and others for many email clients. The only weakness is that it does not back up passwords. Its free as well, and I have been using this utility for some time now.
The link for this utility is:
http://www.amictools.com/v-amic_email_backup.html...“> “>http://www.amictools.com/v-amic_email_backup.html...
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May 10, 2008 - 12:33 pm
There is a free utility called Amic Email Backup which can backup mail files, account settings and others for many email clients. The only weakness is that it does not back up passwords. Its free as well, and I have been using this utility for some time now.
The link for this utility is:
http://www.amictools.com/v-amic_email_backup.html...“> “>http://www.amictools.com/v-amic_email_backup.html...
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December 13, 2008 - 10:36 am
amic mailbackup does not seem to be free now..as per website..
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Resident Admin Reply:
December 14th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Looks like there is a free version and a pay version.
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