pst on a usb stick

[exciter]

hello,

I keep my .pst on my usb stick so that I am always synchronized between my
work and home computers.
That is, I dont need a syn program, nor I need to keep my pst file on a
server...

Yet, the prcossecing on the pst file takes time...
For ex, when i delete a file, it takes a bit of time to delete it.
Like 5-10 seconds. I see my usb stcik lits during the process.

Is there a way to speed up the this processing?
Although my usb stick and computer are the fastest of today?

 

[Oliver Vukovics [Public Shareware]]

Hi exciter,

if you still use USB 2.0 it is the fastest "connection" and you can not
speedup Outloo to save the information "faster".

How long it takes to save the settings is a part of the USB stick, not a
part of Outlook.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

In addition notice that connecting to a pst-file other than the local hard
disk is not recommended or supported by Microsoft.

 

[exciter]

Well I use it by now over 3 years.
Dont care if it is not supported.
And I dont see any other way to sync outlook between computers,
without placing the pst on a server.

 

[Oliver Vukovics [Public Shareware]]

Dear Roady,

I think you mean this article:

"Personal folder files are unsupported over a LAN or over a WAN link"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019/en-us

USB stick are not a LAN orWAN connection. I have a USB stick with a real
Harddisk with 16GB space. This is a "real" harddisk and in the article is no
comment about "do not store your PST file on a USB stick or an USB connected
Harddisk". Microsoft recommended it not to use a "shared" harddisk. A USB
stick is not a shareable harddisk it is only connected localy.

If you read the article, the reasons why it is not recommended are only
network related reasons:

"This is not efficient on WAN or LAN links because WAN/LAN links use
network-access-driven methods, commands the operating system provides to
send data to or receive from another networked computer. If there is a
remote .pst (over a network link), Microsoft Outlook tries to use the file
commands to read from the file or write to the file, but the operating
system then has to send those commands over the network because the file is
not on the local computer."

A USB stick do not have any relation to the network, is not a network drive
and I think, this article does not say: Store your PST file on on your local
harddisk. They write: do not use it on a network drive, but a USB stick is
not a network drive..

This is how I understand the article.

--
Oliver Vukovics
Share your Outlook PST files without Exchange: Public ShareFolder
Extended reminder function for Outlook / Exchange: Public Reminder Addin
http://www.publicshareware.com

 

[Oliver Vukovics [Public Shareware]]

Hi exciter,

you coudl use synchronization tools:

Outlook synchronisation solutions:
http://www.publicshareware.com/outlook-synchronisation-description.php
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.htm

Office Marketplace Outlook messaging tools:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/CE010719621033.aspx

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

I've used a usb stick for a pst and the only real problem is not closing
outlook and waiting for the pst to be released - that has the potential to
cause corruption. Otherwise it seems to be ok.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

In addition to Diane's remark and the performance issues, there is also the
risk of disconnecting the device while Outlook still has an active
connection to it. In those terms it is exactly the same as a network link
that suddenly goes down, which I believe is also covered in that article. In
either case you can end up with a corrupt pst-file. That risk will not exist
when storing the pst-file on an internal hard disk.

In that sense, I believe it falls within the spirit of the article.

 

[exciter]

Then it appears that ms would work on:

process two pst files at the same time:
1. prcoess one on the internal hard drive (as a backup)
2. process the one on the usb stick

Then we can use more safely.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Why would it "appear" that?



-----

Then it appears that ms would work on:

process two pst files at the same time:
1. prcoess one on the internal hard drive (as a backup)
2. process the one on the usb stick

Then we can use more safely.

 

[exciter]

As i explained. what do you mean?

To prevent a corrupt pst file...

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Aha, you meant it as a suggestion? You now wrote it down an assumption ;-)

Well, actually in most cases a 2-way sync tool would be more welcome or some
other way to make incremental updates to data stored on a second computer.

Your scenario would be feasible with SyncToy or the Pst Backup Addin to
automate copying the pst-file from the local location to the USB-drive.



-----

As i explained. what do you mean?

To prevent a corrupt pst file...

Why would it "appear" that?



-----

Then it appears that ms would work on:

process two pst files at the same time:
1. prcoess one on the internal hard drive (as a backup)
2. process the one on the usb stick

Then we can use more safely.



in message In addition to Diane's remark and the performance issues, there is also
the risk of disconnecting the device while Outlook still has an active
connection to it. In those terms it is exactly the same as a network
link that suddenly goes down, which I believe is also covered in that
article. In either case you can end up with a corrupt pst-file. That
risk will not exist when storing the pst-file on an internal hard disk.

In that sense, I believe it falls within the spirit of the article.



in message Dear Roady,

I think you mean this article:

"Personal folder files are unsupported over a LAN or over a WAN link"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297019/en-us

USB stick are not a LAN orWAN connection. I have a USB stick with a
real Harddisk with 16GB space. This is a "real" harddisk and in the
article is no comment about "do not store your PST file on a USB stick
or an USB connected Harddisk". Microsoft recommended it not to use a
"shared" harddisk. A USB stick is not a shareable harddisk it is only
connected localy.

If you read the article, the reasons why it is not recommended are
only network related reasons:

"This is not efficient on WAN or LAN links because WAN/LAN links use
network-access-driven methods, commands the operating system provides
to send data to or receive from another networked computer. If there
is a remote .pst (over a network link), Microsoft Outlook tries to use
the file commands to read from the file or write to the file, but the
operating system then has to send those commands over the network
because the file is not on the local computer."

A USB stick do not have any relation to the network, is not a network
drive and I think, this article does not say: Store your PST file on
on your local harddisk. They write: do not use it on a network drive,
but a USB stick is not a network drive..

This is how I understand the article.

--
Oliver Vukovics
Share your Outlook PST files without Exchange: Public ShareFolder
Extended reminder function for Outlook / Exchange: Public Reminder
Addin
http://www.publicshareware.com

"Roady [MVP]" <newsgroups_DELETE_@_DELETE_sparnaaij_NO_._SPAM_net>
schrieb im Newsbeitrag
In addition notice that connecting to a pst-file other than the local
hard disk is not recommended or supported by Microsoft.



"Oliver Vukovics [Public Shareware]" <[email protected]>
wrote in message Hi exciter,

if you still use USB 2.0 it is the fastest "connection" and you can
not speedup Outloo to save the information "faster".

How long it takes to save the settings is a part of the USB stick,
not a part of Outlook.

--
Oliver Vukovics
Share your Outlook PST files without Exchange: Public ShareFolder
Extended reminder function for Outlook / Exchange: Public Reminder
Addin
http://www.publicshareware.com

hello,

I keep my .pst on my usb stick so that I am always synchronized
between my work and home computers.
That is, I dont need a syn program, nor I need to keep my pst file
on a server...

Yet, the prcossecing on the pst file takes time...
For ex, when i delete a file, it takes a bit of time to delete it.
Like 5-10 seconds. I see my usb stcik lits during the process.

Is there a way to speed up the this processing?
Although my usb stick and computer are the fastest of today?

 

[Sam Calabrese]

For a long while I've been doing the same thing (PSTs on USB thumb drive) but for different reasons: I always take my data with me; I back up off site daily; and I use a thumb drive with hardware encryption to ensure my data is [relatively] secure. I generally work with 5 PSTs (total of 2.5~3.0 GB) open at once.

I've found performance depends on many things, and is quite variable. For one thing, almost all storage devices have a "sweet spot" as far as transfers go. Some are faster at reading, some faster at writing. Some are better with many small files while others do better with large files. Combined with the variables on your computer (background tasks, memory available, etc.) my performance varies noticeably.

I have been very pleased with the setup, and have never lost data. I feel better going home at night, not trusting my important data on the PC in the office will always be there in the morning. Things happen. (Our Exchange mailboxes are extremely limited. And although they backup daily, they've never been able to restore my data after an 'incident'...) I continue to be amazed at Outlook PST robustness.

The only annoyance I've yet to work around: Outlook will try to re-open the same PSTs [that were open when you last shut down] the next time you start Outlook. So I have to 'click thru' all the error messages if I choose not to insert the USB thumb drive. I would love it if Outlook could be configured to ignore PSTs that are no longer present on the next startup. Roady? Sue? Anyone??

/SamCal/

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

The only way you could do that is if you closed the pst's in outlook before
removing the drive. Right click on the top level folder of the pst in the
folder list and choose Close.





in message news:[email protected]...

 

[Snapper]

Sam Calabrese wrote...

For a long while I've been doing the same thing (PSTs on USB thumb drive) but for different reasons: I always take my data with me;

This could be a handy way of sync'ing various installations of Outlook. I have
it set up on my PC and on a laptop. I currently export from the PC as it's the
most used machine and then copy the PST file to a directory that the laptop's
copy of Outlook can access and then import the data. Seems to work OK, but it's
a manual process.

I tried IMAP using Gmail but it failed miserably.

 

[Brian Tillman]

This could be a handy way of sync'ing various installations of
Outlook. I have it set up on my PC and on a laptop. I currently
export from the PC as it's the most used machine and then copy the
PST file to a directory that the laptop's copy of Outlook can access
and then import the data. Seems to work OK, but it's a manual process.

You should never use export/import when transferring data between Outlook
instances.

 

[Snapper]

Brian Tillman wrote...

You should never use export/import when transferring data between Outlook
instances.

Why is this? Currently it's the only way that I can sync the data between
Outlook on my desktop and Outlook on my laptop.

 

[Gordon]

Brian Tillman wrote...


Why is this? Currently it's the only way that I can sync the data between
Outlook on my desktop and Outlook on my laptop.

No it's not........
look here:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.asp

Export to a pst file is done with the pst file open - there may be a risk of
corruption when that is done. The Export function is designed to be used to
either transfer data from Exchange to a pst or, to a third-party app like
Excel or Access.

Why not import?

(Courtesy of Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook])

Importing an entire PST may well corrupt your profile and may create a ghost
PST that you can't close. Importing PST's will lose:
1. Custom Forms
2. Custom Views
3. Connections between contacts and activities
4. Received dates on mail
5. Birthdays and anniversaries in calendar
6. Journal connections
7. Distribution Lists

Opening a PST file will preserve all of these. That is why we do not advise
people to import a native file into Outlook.

 

[Snapper]

Gordon wrote...

No it's not........
look here:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.asp

Which one should I use? There seem to be a few here. some of which I don't
understand what they really do.

I just have OL on two home computers, nothing like MS Exchange or whatever.

The only reason that I'm using Outlook is that my PDA sync's with it. If I was
able to get another Palm PDA that had the features that I require I would still
be using Eudora Pro as my email client and Palm Desktop for contacts, calendar
functions, etc..

Why not import?

(Courtesy of Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook])

Importing an entire PST may well corrupt your profile and may create a ghost
PST that you can't close. Importing PST's will lose:

5. Birthdays and anniversaries in calendar

It did stuff up some appointments that occur on a regular basis when I did this.
I don't know about any email glitches as I didn't look.

 

[Gordon]

Gordon wrote...


Which one should I use? There seem to be a few here. some of which I don't
understand what they really do.

I just have OL on two home computers, nothing like MS Exchange or
whatever.

The only reason that I'm using Outlook is that my PDA sync's with it. If I
was
able to get another Palm PDA that had the features that I require I would
still
be using Eudora Pro as my email client and Palm Desktop for contacts,
calendar
functions, etc..

Then there's instructions on that site on how to use a PDA to do the
job.....
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.asp#pda