archive.pst has reached it's maximum size ?

[Bob]

Hello,

I have auto archive running on clients outlook 2003. The path that I save
the archive.pst is on a server on my LAN, all of the users are local, so is
the 2003 exchange server.

I found an error that puzzles me --- one one users archive I found the
following error ---

error while archiving folder "inbox" "sent items" in store mailbox - ####
the file --- the \\\\\ (path to the server)\archive.pst has reached it's
maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file, permanently delete
them.

Now --- here is the confusing part ----

I have a lot of disk space on the server, and ---- this users archive.pst
file is 1.9GB, yet ---- I have users archive files that are up to 12 GB !!

Does anyone know why I would get a message on one clients archive.pst file
that the file reached maximum size ? yet I have other clients on the same
LAN/same server who has archive.pst files 12GB in size.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP]

That user probably upgraded from a previous version of Outlook and brought
that archive.pst file with them. The old format PST files were limited to
2GB in size and tended to corrupt when they got close to that. Make a new
archive.pst file for them in Outlook 2003 (unicode) format and move the
content from the old one.

For more info on this see this:
http://www.officeforlawyers.com/outlook/tsol.htm

--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com/outlook.html
Author: The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Outlook 2007:
http://tinyurl.com/ol4law-amazon

 

[VanguardLH]

I have auto archive running on clients outlook 2003. The path that I save
the archive.pst is on a server on my LAN, all of the users are local, so is
the 2003 exchange server.

I found an error that puzzles me --- one one users archive I found the
following error ---

error while archiving folder "inbox" "sent items" in store mailbox - ####
the file --- the \\\\\ (path to the server)\archive.pst has reached it's
maximum size. To reduce the amount of data in this file, permanently delete
them.

Now --- here is the confusing part ----

I have a lot of disk space on the server, and ---- this users archive.pst
file is 1.9GB, yet ---- I have users archive files that are up to 12 GB !!

Does anyone know why I would get a message on one clients archive.pst file
that the file reached maximum size ? yet I have other clients on the same
LAN/same server who has archive.pst files 12GB in size.

2GB (1.87GiB) remains the file size limit for ANSI .pst files. You'll need
to convert it to a Unicode .pst file if you want to exceed the 2GB limit.

http://www.google.com/search?q=+outlook++convert++ansi++unicode++pst

Also, .pst files (and Outlook) were not designed for access across a
network. When the network connection is lost, there is no graceful release
of the file. The slamming close of the file due to a lost handle can result
in corruption of the .pst file. All .pst files should be on local drives
where Outlook is ran. So it is possible the user corrupted their .pst file
although they were probably just obeying what they were told to do by
someone that setup to archive files on networked drives (shame on you).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019

 

[Bob]

2GB (1.87GiB) remains the file size limit for ANSI .pst files. You'll need
to convert it to a Unicode .pst file if you want to exceed the 2GB limit.

http://www.google.com/search?q=+outlook++convert++ansi++unicode++pst

Also, .pst files (and Outlook) were not designed for access across a
network. When the network connection is lost, there is no graceful release
of the file. The slamming close of the file due to a lost handle can result
in corruption of the .pst file. All .pst files should be on local drives
where Outlook is ran. So it is possible the user corrupted their .pst file
although they were probably just obeying what they were told to do by
someone that setup to archive files on networked drives (shame on you).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019
.

Concerning .pst files staying on users desktops. They still must be backed
up, desktops are not backed up, only servers by Symtec Backup Exec 12.5. In
house users store their data in their user folder on a file server.

The only option I see is to use the Microsoft Backup on their desktops (XP
professional), run a scheduled backup to - "Choose a place to save your
backup", and put the archive.pst file on a server that way.

Does that sound better/more safe and just pointing archive.pst file right
to the server during the auto archive ?

All opinions appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert]

Concerning .pst files staying on users desktops. They still must be backed
up, desktops are not backed up, only servers by Symtec Backup Exec 12.5. In
house users store their data in their user folder on a file server.

The only option I see is to use the Microsoft Backup on their desktops (XP
professional), run a scheduled backup to - "Choose a place to save your
backup", and put the archive.pst file on a server that way.

Does that sound better/more safe and just pointing archive.pst file right
to the server during the auto archive ?

All opinions appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

I use Synctoy2 for jobs like that rather than a backup process.

Still, you have an organizational matter. Just keep the mail on
Exchange. Disk space cost is negligible. Your 2003 server can support up
to 75GB per mail store. Exchange 2007 lifts this limit.

I personally override users' ability to have a local archive.pst through
group policy. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179124.aspx
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you

 

[VanguardLH]

Concerning .pst files staying on users desktops. They still must be backed
up, desktops are not backed up, only servers by Symtec Backup Exec 12.5. In
house users store their data in their user folder on a file server.

It's been around 4 years since I was at a company that used the enterprise
version of Symantec Backup. It has a client that runs on the workstations
to connect to their backup server. This allows the workstations to get
backed up (usually with incremental backups). Of course, it probably costs
so much for each seat or each block of seats so maybe your company went with
an enterprise-level backup program but went cheap on not getting the
licenses for the clients to put on your workstations.

The only option I see is to use the Microsoft Backup on their desktops (XP
professional), run a scheduled backup to - "Choose a place to save your
backup", and put the archive.pst file on a server that way.

Does that sound better/more safe and just pointing archive.pst file right
to the server during the auto archive ?

If Outlook is *closed* at the time the backup is made then you have a good
copy of the .pst file to save to backup. If the users NEVER open their
archive.pst file then archiving to that file won't leave an open file handle
on it which means a backup will work (the file won't be inuse). However,
later when the user wants to use that .pst file, you will need to copy it to
their local host so then can open it with the instance of Outlook that is
running local on that host.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

The only option I see is to use the Microsoft Backup on their desktops (XP
professional), run a scheduled backup to - "Choose a place to save your
backup", and put the archive.pst file on a server that way.

There's another way as well. As part of the login script, supply a BAT that
copies the PSTs on the local system to the server. Your normal server backups
will then have access to fairly new PSTs that aren't locked by Outlook while
still allowing Outlook to operate on local PSTs.

Does that sound better/more safe and just pointing archive.pst file right
to the server during the auto archive ?

It's not likely that an Archive PST on a network share will be damaged, but
why take the chance?