PST and Outlook

[Guest]

Hi,

I have just a short question : I have Outlook, and a PST file with my
archives.

This archive is 1.5 Gb.

We have a project to move the PST files to another site (we're in Geneva,
and the PST files would go to London).
If I access the PST from my Outlook in Geneva, will the entire PST be loaded
from London to Geneva, or not ? I think that not, but I'd like to be sure of
it !

Thanks a lot !

 

[Noel All]

In theory its possible but in reality the problems could be horrendous with
the ultimate being a damaged pst file, Microsoft doesn't recommend putting
or accessing pst files that are on network shares.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

In

Hi,

I have just a short question : I have Outlook, and a PST file with my
archives.

This archive is 1.5 Gb.

We have a project to move the PST files to another site (we're in
Geneva, and the PST files would go to London).
If I access the PST from my Outlook in Geneva, will the entire PST be
loaded from London to Geneva, or not ? I think that not, but I'd like
to be sure of it !

I'd say not, but only because you likely won't be able to open it across
that link at all - and if you managed to, it'd likely become corrupt and
crash and you'd lose data.

Thanks a lot !

To add to the other reply, which is sound - Microsoft doesn't even *support*
accessing PST files across WAN or even LAN connections.
Don't even try this.

Do you use Exchange server? Any other corporate mail server? If so, your
critical business data belongs there, not in a PST file.

Note - if this is a non-Outlook2003 created PST file (non Unicode) you
should consider splitting it up into multiple files - 1.5GB is getting
awfully close to the 2GB limit for PST files and you don't want to lose
data.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

thanks for these answers.

I do use Exchange server, and I know that data is in the mailboxes. But they
already have PST files for their archiving, and my question was simply :

When I open Outlook with links to archive files, does it load the wholePST
file in memory, or not ?

Thanks for these best practices, but I already have the design done (not by
me unfortunately !). I need to have info on ONLY this point (loading in
memory or not).

Thanks !

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

In

Hi,

thanks for these answers.

I do use Exchange server, and I know that data is in the mailboxes.
But they already have PST files for their archiving, and my question
was simply :

When I open Outlook with links to archive files, does it load the
wholePST file in memory, or not ?

Yes. You are opening the entire file when the PST is in the profile at all.

Thanks for these best practices,

You're welcome, but note - it's not even really an issue of 'best practices'
when you're talking about iopening pretty much *any* kind of 1.5 file across
a WAN link, let alone a PST file.

Don't do this. Outlook is going to freeze. The data file is going to get
corrupt.

but I already have the design done
(not by me unfortunately !). I need to have info on ONLY this point
(loading in memory or not).

It cannot be reasonably accomplished from a technical standpoint. Give up on
this - whomever decided this would be the way to go needs to re-consider.

PST files are not the optimal way to archive your data. Look into
server-side solutions if this is important. See
http://www.archiveone.com/archiveone/default.asp for one option (I haven't
used this but just found out about it).

 

[Guest]

Hi,

thanks once again ! This forum is great !

And what if the PST is not located in the user profile, but on a share drive
with a letter mapped by a "net use" command ? It won't be loaded at Outlook
startup, will it ?

But I agree with you that 2 Gb across the WAN is not the best way of doing
it .....

Thanks for replies to this last question !

 

[Brian Tillman]

And what if the PST is not located in the user profile, but on a
share drive with a letter mapped by a "net use" command ? It won't be
loaded at Outlook startup, will it ?

If Outlook is to open it, it must be in a profile. Not a Windows user
profile, but a mail profile.

But I agree with you that 2 Gb across the WAN is not the best way of
doing it .....

It's not ANY way of doing it. Network shares employ specific types of I/O
that are not suitable to accessing PSTs.