scott wrote:
>> Uhhh. Probably, yeah. I'm not sure if you're using Exchange why you'd 
>> be storing the definitive version of .pst files on the laptop. Why not 
>> store them on the exchange server?
> 
> Because we only get allocated a certain amount of space on Exchange, and 
> most people quickly go over that limit within a few months of emails. 
> Everyone I know that works here moves files off into local PSTs to be 
> able to keep emails longer than that (which is essential in this job).  
> Some people keep one huge PST (which I think is a bad idea) others like 
> me have several PST files for different areas of the job, and the big 
> ones I usually split up by year or even by quarter if there is a large 
> volume of data.

We have this exact brain-deadness where I work.

Everybody is limited to 500MB of email. Most people have, like, 5MB or 
less, but a few people have multiple gigabytes of stuff. Apparently 
we're running out of space on our Exchange server, so the 500MB limit is 
rigidly enforced. (Why they don't just buy a bit more storage space is 
beyond me...) Thus, instead of mail on the Exchange server, people end 
up archiving it into PST files.

Now let's think about this for a moment. If your mail is on the central 
Exchange server:

- It is centrally stored on the Exchange server.
- It is protected by RAID technology.
- It is backed up every single day.
- Deligates can be given access to it.
- Multiple people can access it at once.
- You can audit who accesses what, when, and how often.
- Accidentally deleted messages can be recovered. (Apparently there are 
now *two* levels of online restore: the trash folder, and a "recover 
deleted email" option after that.)
- If your PC breaks, you can go access it from another PC.
- If you're out on the road and your laptop dies, you just find an 
Internet cafe and fire up Outlook Web Access.

Hell, if you wanted to retreive an email you deleted last year, there's 
a good chance we can get it back from last year's tapes. (And we *can* 
restore just that one single email, not your entire mailbox.)

Now let us consider the situation with PST files:

- The email now exists in a single flat file.
- This file is almost always on the local harddrive, not the server.
- If that PC has a problem... no RAID, no backups, goodbye data.
- Only one person can access a PST file at a time.
- PST files are easy to lose. Reset somebody's user profile, "hey, where 
did all my mail go?" "Do you know where you put the PST file?" "What's a 
PST file?"
- "I found this huge temp file so I deleted it. Where's all my email gone?"
- You give somebody a new PC. A month later they complain that they're 
missing their archived email. Oh, sorry, I already wiped your old PC.

Need I continue?

And yet, Corporate IT are adamant that using PST files is a Very Good 
Idea. *sigh*

Still, I guess that's why we paid thousands of dollars for an Exchange 
license, right? So that we could manage our mail in flat files. :-P

Post a reply to this message