Backing up individual Exchange mailboxes

If you have only a few mailboxes, and if you can only back up to tape, you may prefer to use this legacy mailbox backup method.

Note:

Exchange 2007 does not support individual mailbox backup.

See About selecting individual Exchange mailboxes for backup.

To back up individual Exchange mailboxes

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.

  2. On the properties pane, under Job Defaults, click Microsoft Exchange.

  3. Check Enable legacy mailbox support (not recommended - use Information Store instead).

  4. If you want to recreate user accounts and mailboxes during a restore, check Back up the information used to automatically recreate user accounts and mailboxes.

    This option is not checked by default.

  5. Click OK.

  6. On the navigation bar, click the arrow next to Backup.

  7. Click New Backup Job.

  8. On the Properties pane, under Source, click Selections.

  9. View the Exchange mailboxes or public folders that you want to back up by doing one or all of the following:

    To select Exchange mailboxes or public folders from local or remote computers:

    Click the domain name icon or icons that contain the Exchange mailboxes. Expand the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox icon that contains the Exchange mailboxes or public folders.

    To select Exchange mailboxes or public folders from a clustered Exchange server:

    On the virtual server, click the domain name icon or icons that contain the Exchange mailboxes. Expand the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox icon that contains the Exchange mailboxes or public folders.

  10. Select the mailboxes or individual messages, mailboxes, and folders that you want to back up.

    When you select a mailbox or public folder, all folders and subfolders are included in the backup by default. For a faster backup, consider using Advanced File Selections to exclude some folders, such as Deleted Items or Sent Items, and subfolders from the backup.

    Because public folders can be replicated on multiple Exchange servers, select public folders from only one Exchange server.

  11. If prompted, select a logon account that allows you to connect to the Exchange mailboxes or public folders.

    See Exchange mailbox access requirements.

  12. On the Properties pane, under Settings, click Microsoft Exchange.

  13. Select a backup method for the Information Store.

  14. Select the following options as appropriate:

    Mailbox backup method

    The following backup methods are available:

    • Full - Back up messages - Reset archive bit. Select this method to back up all messages in the selected mailboxes. This option is set by default.

      A time/date stamp that is placed in each folder indicates that the messages have been backed up.

    • Copy - Back up messages. Select this method to back up all messages in the selected mailboxes. A time/date stamp is not used, so incremental and differential backups are not affected.

      Use the copy method to make a full backup of the mailboxes without disturbing the state of ongoing incremental or differential backups.

    • Differential - Back up changed messages. Select this method to back up all of the messages that have been created or modified in the selected mailboxes since the last full backup.

      The time/date stamp that is placed on the folders during the last full backup is used to determine which messages have been modified since the last full backup. The time/date stamp is not updated during the differential backup.

    • Incremental - Back up changed messages - Reset archive bit. Select this method to back up only the messages that have been modified in the selected mailboxes since the last full or incremental backup.

      The time/date stamp that is placed on the folders during the last full or incremental backup is used to determine which messages have been modified since the last full or incremental backup. The time/date stamp is updated during the incremental backup.

    Enable single instance backup for message attachments (for mailbox and public folder backups only)

    Check Enable single instance backup for message attachments to back up only a single copy of all identical message attachments. When an identical attachment is found, a reference to the attachment is retained. The actual attachment is backed up at the end of the backup set.

    Enabling single instance backup for message attachment increases backup performance since duplicate attachments are backed up only once.

    Uncheck Enable single instance backup for message attachments if you want each identical copy of a message attachment to be backed up and kept in order on the backup set.

    If the backup job does not complete, the message attachments may not be included in the backup set. Run the backup until it completes successfully completed.

    If the incremental backup method was used, running the job again will not back up the same messages and attachments. You must run a full or copy backup to ensure that all messages and attachments are backed up completely.

  15. If necessary, select other backup options from the Properties pane that you want to apply to these selections.

  16. Schedule or start the backup job.

More Information

Exchange mailbox access requirements

About selecting individual Exchange mailboxes for backup

Creating a backup job by setting job properties