How to handle PST files

[bmcdaniel]

I am having issues with my PST files. All of our users store PST files on their respective site servers. We have Client-Side Dedupe enabled, but it appears that PST files are not deduped, at least not at the block level. So even with dedup on, if the pst changes, the entire thing is backed up. This is a problem, because we have numerous Large PST files.

I tried to do a subfile only on psts, which seems to help, but I think that disabled client dedup, so it really doesn't end up helping out.

How does everyone else handle these?


FYI...we do network backups, so I am trying to minimize network traffic, while minimizing the backup window. I will sacrifice CPU & RAM, to shrink the other two.

[moon-buddy]

As far as I know, PST files are unique and will not be dedup.

The reason is that PST files are 'compacted' versions of individual mailboxes and as such has unique features.

[jmills]

We are facing the same problem, so we are phasing out pst backups. Due to many reasons including legal and cost we have decided to no longer backup PSTs. As it is we have an enterprise mail solution that is archiving every email sent and recv'd, so in a worst case scenario the data still exists.

[MrOdysseus]

Sorry to bump this thread back up. PST are definitely every administrators nightmare. Subfiles will work up to 2GB in size files. After that were looking at full backups every time.

Does anyone have an experience where hundreds of thousands of PST's are involved from one server?

Just throwing the question out there.

Thanks,
-Ody