I am trying to back up my e-mail files on a cd. I have Windows XP Home
edition and Outlook 2002. I downloaded and installed PST Backup or pfbackup
version 5.50.4134.600 and followed instructions. When I try to backup my
files the window appears indicating that the files are being copied, but it
never finishes! Eventually, the computer screen freezes and I have to force
it to shut down. What am I doing wrong?

michael . wrote:

I am trying to back up my e-mail files on a cd. I have Windows XP
Home edition and Outlook 2002. I downloaded and installed PST Backup
or pfbackup version 5.50.4134.600 and followed instructions. When I
try to backup my files the window appears indicating that the files
are being copied, but it never finishes! Eventually, the computer
screen freezes and I have to force it to shut down. What am I doing
wrong?

Do not try to generate the backup directly on the CD. After PFbackup has
finished its job and created an on-disk copy of your PST, drag that copy to
the CD burner. After the burn, to test it, drag it back to your hard drive,
remove the read-only attribute, and try to open it in Outlook
(FIleOpenOutlook Data File). If it opens and you can see your data, close
it again (right-clickClose) and stop Outlook. You can then remove the test
copy from the hard drive as well as the copy PFbackup made, if you wish.
--
Brian Tillman

Brian,
I tried your suggestion, but after I copied the file to the cd and copied it
back to my hard drive (1) it did not have the read only attribute checked and
(2) it would not open in Outlook. The original PFbackup would open in
Outlook and I could see my data.

"Brian Tillman" wrote:

michael . wrote:

I am trying to back up my e-mail files on a cd. I have Windows XP
Home edition and Outlook 2002. I downloaded and installed PST Backup
or pfbackup version 5.50.4134.600 and followed instructions. When I
try to backup my files the window appears indicating that the files
are being copied, but it never finishes! Eventually, the computer
screen freezes and I have to force it to shut down. What am I doing
wrong?

Do not try to generate the backup directly on the CD. After PFbackup has
finished its job and created an on-disk copy of your PST, drag that copy to
the CD burner. After the burn, to test it, drag it back to your hard drive,
remove the read-only attribute, and try to open it in Outlook
(FIleOpenOutlook Data File). If it opens and you can see your data, close
it again (right-clickClose) and stop Outlook. You can then remove the test
copy from the hard drive as well as the copy PFbackup made, if you wish.
--
Brian Tillman

michael . wrote:

I tried your suggestion, but after I copied the file to the cd and
copied it back to my hard drive (1) it did not have the read only
attribute checked

As far as I can tell, ANY file copied from a CD to the hard drive will have
the read-ony attribute set, since a CD is, by definition, read-only.

and (2) it would not open in Outlook.

And what error did you get when you tried?
--
Brian Tillman

Brian,
I found the problem. I was using a cd formatted by Roxio CD Creator.
Everything worked fine when I burned the PST file directly to an unformatted
cd. Thanks for your help.

"Brian Tillman" wrote:

michael . wrote:

I tried your suggestion, but after I copied the file to the cd and
copied it back to my hard drive (1) it did not have the read only
attribute checked

As far as I can tell, ANY file copied from a CD to the hard drive will have
the read-ony attribute set, since a CD is, by definition, read-only.

and (2) it would not open in Outlook.

And what error did you get when you tried?
--
Brian Tillman