How to backup and recover emails

Having an idea of how to recover email files before something goes wrong is
always a good idea. For me, email is my livelihood. I simply can not get by
without my email history. I could loose my phone, and even my past articles,
but could not withstand a hit on my email files. They are just too important.

Depending on your email program, how you back up your files, and how you recover
those files varies quite a bit. For example Outlook uses what is really an Access
Database file, called Outlook.pst. This file is normally under C:\Documents
and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application

Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst ... but you should verify that, and make
sure you know where yours is located.

Thunderbird, Eudora and most other email programs use the industry standard
mbox format, which is much easier to work with than the proprietary *.pst formats.
There are plenty of programs out there for converting between the two these
days however.

There are many types of recovery as well, rather than just the standard 'need
to recover from computer crash' scenario. Many computer users start out with
Outlook Express, because it is normally already installed on the computer they
purchased, and was easy to setup. As they get more use to their computer, and
needs become more sophisticated, some people want to move to a different program,
which could be Outlook (which is different than Outlook Express), Thunderbird,
Eudora or several other software packages that work with emails for specific
needs.

The worst thing you can do is to get into an email package that won't allow
you to leave. That should be our first question when looking at any email package,
is "how can I leave this later, if I want to...?"

For the packages I'm going to talk about here, the answers are pretty simple,
and well documented. Just make sure the same is true for any other software
you might be considering.

Recovering your email file from one machine to the next or from a backup location
(external hard drive, CD ROM or Zip drive) isn't as straight forward as most
of us would like it to be. First of all, *.pst are set to work with Profile
names. So to recover them, you need to setup on the new machine (or in the new
installed program) the same Profile name that you used on the old machine.

The first step is to get the PST file onto the new machine or recovered computer.
Outlook isn't going to allow you to use a ZIP drive or CD Rom for recovery.
So make directory off your C:/ drive and (call it Mail or something simple)
and copy your PST file there. Once that is done, you can start Outlook, and
make a new profile with the same name as the old profile. A simple way to add
the new profile is through the Control Panel with Outlook closed : Start the
Mail applet from Control Panel, click Show Profiles, then Add. When the E-mail
Accounts dialog appears, don't add an account. Instead, choose View or change
existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next. On the next screen, click New
Outlook Data File and specify the location of your main .pst file. Finish up
by adding mail accounts with the Add button and any other .pst files with the
New Outlook Data File button. Click Finish when you're done. You can now start
Outlook with this new profile.

Quick Recovery for Thunderbird is a bit more simple (as it is for Eudora).
Since the file types are in mbox format, you simply start your new installation
of the software, and import the backed up mail files from your backup area (external
drive, CD Rom or Zip drive).

Thunderbird stores its email files under : C:\Documents and Settings\glenn\Application
Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\ ... you will see under this director the list of
Profiles you have for your installation. Under your Profile diretory you will
find all of the folders and email files required for your package. Back up all
of these on a regular bases and you will always be able to recover your full
setup.

If you are using a back up software package like KLS, then adding these folder
areas to your list of files is a good idea. No matter what package you are using,
go through the motions at least once (before a crash) and become familiar with
how the recovery process works, and what to expect.

Some good resources for Email Recovery are

Thunderbird :

Importing and Exporting your mail

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_and_exporting_your_mail

Profile Backup

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

Mail Utilities

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mail_Utilities

FAQ's

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_FAQs

Outlook :

Outlook File Locations

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP030822101033.aspx

Reconnect your old Outlook data files

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

Create a backup of my Contacts

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011127411033.aspx

Backup Outlook email messages

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011030811033.aspx

Eudora :

How Can I backup and restore my In and Out mailboxes

http://eudora.com/techsupport/kb/2651hq.html

The last tip I'm going to leave you with is regarding email services. Many of
us get email addresses from our ISP's, cable or DSL services. The trouble is
that when we decide to move from one service to another, all of our email is
tied to these addresses. This is one of the strong advantages to using services
like Yahoo, Google, or MSN because no matter where we are, or what service we
are using, our email addresses are the same. Using Google and services like
theirs has another advantage as well. With the 2 Gigs of space Google allows
for storage of email on their server, backups and recoveries become much simpler,
since you not only have the copy on your computer inside your email client folders
(Outlook, Thunderbird etc), but you also have a copy still sitting on the Google
server, which you can download again if necessary.

No matter how important email is to you right now, I can guarantee that it
is going to triple in importance in two years, so figuring out how to back up
and restore your email now will be a of great advantage to you in the future.