Genie Outlook Backup review -

Genie Outlook Backup Review

If you are using Microsoft Outlook in a typical home or small office environment, all of your data is dependant on a *.pst file. Unfortunately, in many cases, this file is difficult to locate. Our experience has been that most clients are not backing up their outlook data.

Genie Outlook backup provides an effective, easy to use solution. If you purchase a copy on CD the cost is about $50. Genie will search your computer for *.pst files and then back them up. You have the option to back them up directly to CD or to some other file.

You can also choose to back up your Favorites, Windows address book and other files.

We usually back up to a My Documents\My Backups folder. We back up the entire My Documents folder to DVD so the outlook backups are included.

The user interface is not a standard windows GUI, but it is easy to use. The application runs pretty quickly

Tips

Outlook must be closed in order to run your backup
The backup system will auto increment the file names. You should go back and delete the old files from time to time.
You need to remember to actually do the backups and then copy them to CD if necessary.
Remember, especially if you are using Outlook for business, that the data files have a lot of information. Safeguard the CDs.
You can save the file as a self extracting exe file. That means you don't need Genie to get to your data. We save as an exe about once a month.

Update - August 2005 - There is a manual alternative to using software such as Genie Outlook Backup. You need to be a little more careful but the process is pretty straightforward.

Find out where your PST files live - Do a search for all files and folders and specify *.PST as the file name. When you find the PST files, check the dates and sizes. You should be able to figure out which PST file is the right one.
Right click on that file and select 'open containing folder'
use the up button to go one layer up in the folder structure.
Right click on this folder and add it as a shortcut to your desktop.
When you want to make a copy of your pst folder
- Make sure Outlook is closed
- Open the folder on your desktop
- Select the PST files and choose copy from the menu
- Go to a backup folder that you already have set up (we use mybackups in My Documents). Right click and past the outlook files.
Make sure you burn these files to CD or DVD and put them in a safe place.
While you are doing this, take a look at the PST files sizes. You want to keep the file size well under 800 MB

Again, be careful with all of this. You are playing with the PST file which, for most people, has irreplaceable data.

Software Reviews Menu:

Legal Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided as-is and without warranty. Rates are subject to change without notice. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. You may link to any page in this site, but you may not frame the content. Use of this site implies agreement to these terms. For more information, please see our policies About us: CGM Systems, Inc. is located in Southampton, Pennsylvania. We provide consulting services in the Greater Philadelphia area including Bucks County and Montgomery County. Some services such as website design are provided nationally. Some of the communities that we serve include: Upper Southampton, Lower Southampton, Trevose, Feasterville, Bensalem, Newtown, Doylestown, Richboro, Holland, Warminster, Huntingdon Valley, Morrisville, Yardley, New Hope, Solebury, Middleton, Oxford Valley, Neshaminy, Ivyland, Willow Grove, Bristol, Lahaska and more!