How to Backup and Restore Important MS Outlook Data with External Hard Drive?
When it comes to data on your computer, email messages
come as a top priority for the data recovery effects, especially if they
include business and commercial information. Because your messages are so
important, it is understandable that you need to be proactive, foresee the possible
coming computer crash, and perform frequent backups for your Microsoft Outlook
profile and messages.
In the event of a hard drive crash or virus attack, a
backup of your Outlook .PST file allows you to keep a copy of all your
important email messages. Even if you lose your messages completely on your
master disk, you can import them from the .PST file after you re-install
Microsoft Outlook in several easy steps.
So, note that you don't have to transfer each individual
email to your external hard drive. Microsoft Outlook can export all of your
messages to a single file for easy transport. Using Import and Export Wizard,
convert the content of your mailbox to a personal folders, or PST, file; you
can import this file into any email client that supports Microsoft Outlook. If
you want to copy only business-critical messages to your other drive, create a
new folder in your inbox and move the relevant emails to the new location. You
can select to export that particular folder in the wizard.
Backing Up Outlook
Data to External Drive
Step 1: Open your account in Microsoft Outlook. Click
"File," "Open & Export," then
"Import/Export."
Step 2: Select "Export to File" in the Import
and Export Wizard and then click "Next."
Step 3: Click "Outlook Data File (.pst)" and
then click "Next." Choose "Inbox" as the folder to export,
or expand "Inbox" and select the appropriate folder. Click
"Next."
Step 4: Connect the external drive to your computer.
Click "Cancel" if a dialog box appears on-screen.
Step 5: Click "Browse," select the external
drive from the list of storage devices and then create an easy recognizable
name for your backup file. Click "OK."
Step 6: Click "Next," then "Finish."
To secure the messages, enter a password when prompted and then click "OK.
Otherwise, click "Cancel."
Restoring Outlook
Data from External Drive
Step 1: Connect the external hard drive or USB flash
drive holding the backed up .PST files to the computer. Wait for Windows to
configure the external device as a storage device on your computer.
Step 2: Click "Start" and then
"Computer." Double-click the drive letter of the external hard drive
or USB flash drive. Navigate to the folder on the device that contains the .PST
file.
Step 3: Highlight the .PST file. Right-click the file
name, then click "Copy" on the pop-up menu.
Step 4: Navigate to the
"C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook" folder where
"USER_NAME" is the name of the Windows user account for which to
import the Outlook profile and messages. Right-click inside the folder window,
then click "Paste" on the pop-up menu.
NOTE: The provided path might be different, depending on
the Windows software version. For example, it might be C:\Documents and
Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\,or similar,
where [USER] is your username on the
Windows computer. If you are not sure, search for Outlook folder through the
built-in search function in the Windows.
You may need to take ownership of the files on the old
hard drive, before being able to access them. Windows will prompt you if
necessary and do this for you. You may also need to show hidden items from the
File Explorer in Windows 8 in order to see the relevant folders. To do this
click on “View” and then tick the box marked "Hidden items" in the
Show/Hide section towards the right hand side.
Step 5: Launch Microsoft Outlook on your computer. Click
"File" on the ribbon bar and then click "Import and
Export."
Step 6: Click the "Import from another program or
file" option and then "Next." In the "Import a File"
window, select the file type "Outlook Data File (.pst)." Click the
"Next" button.
Step 7: Click the "Browse" button in the
"Import Outlook Data Files" dialog box. Navigate to the folder where
you copied the .PST file from the external storage device. Highlight the file
name, then click the "Open" button.
Step 8: Click and select the "Replace duplicates
with items imported" option. Click the "Next" button.
Step 9: Wait for Microsoft Outlook to import the profile
and messages from the .PST file. Once the import process finishes, click the
"Finish" button. Outlook displays the messages in the
"Inbox." Outlook also adds name and email address information from
the .PST file to the current profile.
Sources and
Additional Information:
Posts
