Analysis of Different Outlook PST Backup and Recovery Tools
There are three important tools that you could use to back up all the important data that your Outlook PST file stores. The Outlook Personal Folders file or PST, stores not just the email messages but contact details, address book, appointments, journal entries, notes and tasks. Clearly, if you are a regular user of Outlook, it is vital that you select one tool and take frequent backups with this tool. You should also familiarize yourself with the restoration techniques that each one of these tools adopts so that if you are dealing with a damaged or corrupt PST, you will know the exact steps you need to take to carry out a reliable outlook repair.
The three main tools that Microsoft Outlook provides to its users are - Exporting, Archiving and the Personal Folders Backup Tool.
1. Exporting - In the Export method, you can simply create a file and then export the folders from the Outlook application, one by one into the file. The original data will still be in the folders. The only restriction is that you can export just one folder at a time. When you need to restore some data, simply import the necessary folders.
2. Archiving - Outlook provides for auto-archiving of items in the folders. This essentially means deleting items that have been moved into the Deleted Items folder and also moving some of the older messages as well as items out of the folders. This helps in controlling the size of the main PST file. When you need to carry out an outlook repair, you can check the contents of the archive, and import the items that have been accidentally deleted or damaged.
3. Personal Folders Backup Tool - This is probably the most convenient backup tool to copy entire PST files into another location on the hard disk, on another workstation in the network or simply onto external storage devices. The Personal Folders Backup Tool can be used to remind you of the backups that you need to take at set intervals. You can also choose to restore just a few items, a few folders or an entire PST file using this tool. This tool will also allow you to confirm what the status of the backup is - what is the date when the last backup was taken and which PST files have to be backed up.
4. Third-party Recovery Tools - At times, even the exported data file, archives and backups get corrupted or damaged due to virus or other malicious attacks, software failures and system crashes. You may therefore not be able to carry out an outlook repair through any of these standard methods. The best option for you would be to use sophisticated third-party tools such as Advanced outlook repair from DataNumen to quickly restore the data from even highly damaged PST files. Most of these tools, in particular Advanced outlook repair, come with a very user-friendly interface and advanced restoration features. They will allow you to recover not just all the items stored in the PST file but also restore them in the same structure as in the original PST file.