rsync - Dec 2008 - Backing up Outlook pst files

Hi - I'm backing up a Windows client which has a number of Outlook  
mail archives (pst files) and annoyingly whenever you open Outlook it  
updates the modification dates of all pst files - even if you don't  
change any of the emails contained in the archive.

What's the best way of backing up these files without having them fill  
up my backup disk with mostly identical copies of these files. I guess  
I could use the --checksum option or is there a better way?

BTW, I'm using rsync 3.0.4 on a Mac OS X (Leopard) machine and the  
Windows client is running XP.

Cheers
Michael

-------------- next part --------------
HTML attachment scrubbed and removed

On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 1:34 PM, MW <rsync@urmel.demon.co.uk>
wrote:
> Hi - I'm backing up a Windows client which has a number of Outlook mail
> archives (pst files) and annoyingly whenever you open Outlook it updates
the
> modification dates of all pst files - even if you don't change any of
the
> emails contained in the archive.
> What's the best way of backing up these files without having them fill
up my
> backup disk with mostly identical copies of these files. I guess I could
use
> the --checksum option or is there a better way?
> BTW, I'm using rsync 3.0.4 on a Mac OS X (Leopard) machine and the
Windows
> client is running XPW
When Outlook opens a PST file read-write, its content actually does
change, even if no email is received. Reasons: calendar reminder
status changes, read status changes, search index updates, and a bunch
of other stuff. A PST is essentially a big database file with a bunch
of different internal tables and indexes.

So these files are not actaully exact duplicates. If you don't want to
store all the files, you can use --only-write-batch=FILE and its
associated options to store only the "delta" of each successive file.
Periodically, you will have to do a full update of the file though.
This can be a brittle solution in my experience, especially if the
chain 'o' files gets somehow munged.

If your outlook client is connected to a Microsoft Exchange server,
stop using PST files right now. Keep all your data on the Exchange
server itself, which is the intended design.
http://www.google.com/search?q=why+pst%3Dbad

If your Outlook is connected to a POP server, and the PSTs are your
only option, then you can use the rsync batch method. A better choice
might be continuously updating the file using --inplace, and then
using Time Machine (or whatever other snapshot solution) on the Mac
side to keep different versions of the PST. We do this with large
database files: rsync with "--inplace" and use VSS snapshots on the
Windows server target.


-- 
RPM

Dear Sir,
I have a question about rsync restore process.
I backup data in test_laptop folder in my laptop to the server. And I use
another PC to get data back from server, and the folder is named with
test_pc. But rsync is going to create a folder test_laptop in test_pc. I
just wanna everything in test_laptop to be exactly in test_pc. Is there any
option available?

Please help me! An modification of below commands are appreciated! Thanks.

I use following command to back current data to server.
rsync  -avzrtopg --progress --delete --backup
--backup-dir=Increment/2000-00-03-180303
"/cygdrive/d/backup_test/back/test_laptop/"
admin@192.168.2.23::admin_test

And use following command to restore data back to another folder
rsync  -avzrtopg --progress admin@192.168.2.23::admin_test
"/cygdrive/d/backup_test/back/test_pc"


Best Regards  
 
Daniel Li 
Tel: +86-21-58966996-1400  Fax: +86-21-58967931 
42nd building,1387 Zhang Dong Rd, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, P.R. China
201203

[This may be too late to be useful, but I'll answer anyway for future
reference.]

On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 14:55 +0800, Daniel wrote:
> I have backup local data every 7 days. Recently, I found that some of local
> files are infected with virus. Can I use some operation to restore back to
7
> days ago?
If you have used a separate --backup-dir on each rsync run since the
infection (as in your command quoted below), then the state before the
infection can be reconstructed by "overlaying" the backup dirs, from
the
one just before the infection on the "top" (highest priority) to the
newest followed by the main destination dir on the "bottom" (lowest
priority).  To restore such an overlaid sequence, just run rsync,
listing all the dirs as sources in order of decreasing priority.

Note that backup dirs don't represent file creations, so you may be left
with extra files that didn't exist in the state you are restoring.  If
you will often need to restore states other than the latest, consider
using a tool such as rsnapshot or rdiff-backup.
> > I use following command to back current data to server.
> > rsync  -avzrtopg --progress --delete --backup
> > --backup-dir=Increment/2000-00-03-180303
> > "/cygdrive/d/backup_test/back/test_laptop/"
admin@192.168.2.23::admin_test
-- 
Matt