Backing Up .ost File: Outlook 365. Acronis Cyber Protect Dilemma

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I recently decided to change my Outlook mail from POP to IMAP (.ost)  (Why:  I’m told POP is “old-fashioned” and IMAP is “the only way to go”).

I use Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office to create regular backups of my entire system, and also more frequent backups of critical Outlook 365 data such as emails, calendar and contacts.

I now note that Acronis does not back up the .ost file.

Should I be worried?  (I believe “yes”).

Can a backed up copy of an .ost file be used to recover corrupted/lost Outlook data?

What should I do to protect the integrity of my Outlook data and to regularly back it up?

 

 

 

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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This is normal behaviour because an OST file is effectively a backup of the mail on your server, to allow local access if the server is not talking to you. If you lose the OST it will automatically be recreated from the data on your server.

If you really want a local copy in your backup, zip the OST to your Documents folder, but I wouldn’t bother.

cheers, Paul

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petesmst

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@Paul T.  Many thanks, but of course the server does not keep all mail for ever, so I assume regular archiving of mail using Outook’s Auto Archive is a good idea?

In your opinion, would a three-monthly Auto Archive backup regime be safe?

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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petesmst wrote:

Many thanks, but of course the server does not keep all mail for ever, so I assume regular archiving of mail using Outook’s Auto Archive is a good idea?

If you desire to keep your emails on your PC you can create an Outlook data file (PST) and put in it folders to move the emails to after reading them (just like you did with POP).  You can place this data file in one of the folders you routinely backup and have routine backup.

Alternatively, you can have Outlook still display your current PST you saved your emails from your POP account and move the emails you wish to save that downloaded via your IMAP account to this Outlook Data storage file.

In my Outlook I have 2 IMAP accounts, PST storage folder tree, and Master Archive tree all displayed in the left navigation pane where I can access any email from > 20 years ago until new arrivals in the Inbox.  The PST storage folder and the Master Archive folder (which is a PST file too) are stored on my data drive that gets incremental backups every night while I sleep.   The OST folder, as Paul stated, really doesn’t need backup and especially if you are moving any emails you want to save to the storage folder which is backed up.  However, the OST folder does get backed up with the image backups of the Windows drive.

I might add that all this backing up is done totally with Windows, is totally automatic , and doesn’t involve any 3rd party software.

HTH, Dana:))

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petesmst

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@Drcard:))  Many thanks.  Sounds like a good solution!  (After posting above, I came across a free App called “MailStore Home”.  It creates full backups of any type of mail account; and one can restore any backed-up message if required).  I’m currently giving it a “test drive” to see what it’s like in practice.

 

Details here:  https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/

My Rig: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core CPU; ASUS Cross Hair VIII Formula Mobo; Win 11 Pro (64 bit)-(UEFI-booted); 32GB RAM; 2TB Corsair Force Series MP600 Pro 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD. 1TB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 NVME SSD; MSI GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G OC; Microsoft 365 Home; Condusiv SSDKeeper Professional; Acronis Cyberprotect, VMWare Workstation Pro V17.5. HP 1TB USB SSD External Backup Drive). Dell G-Sync G3223Q 144Hz Monitor.

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