how to backup public folders?

[C Mallow]

My office is looking to setup our Outlook 2003 so that incoming and outgoing
Emails that are related to a particular project can be selected to be shared,
& viewable by everyone in the office.

I looked into the use of Public Folders. I set it up, but it doesn't allow
me to archive or auto archive.
And once i put an email into Public Folders, I dont know where it is stored!
(is it on the Server's hard drive? or in staff PC?)

If on the server, how do i set up my external backup program to backup the
Public Folder? (where is it placed?)

Another note, i've read that Public Folder is going to be slowly phased out
in about 10 years.
Shold we start using Public Folders now? or should we go ahead and use MS
SharePoint or other programs?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Public Folders reside on the server and not on the client (although the
client can cache a Public Folder for off-line access).
Are you backing up Exchange already?
Then you should also have the option to backup the Public Folder Store which
is a separate database from the Message Store.

Since you are now starting with Public Folders, I would advice not to even
look at it and indeed take a look at SharePoint or Windows SharePoint
Services first. The last falls within your Windows Server 2003 or Windows
Server 2008 license so there are no additional costs in using it.