How to Backup Outlook Emails to an External Hard Drive | 2024 Updated Edition

Outlook contains a wealth of important and personal information, and it's crucial to back up your emails to guard against data loss due to computer crashes or virus attacks. If you're looking for ways to backup your Outlook emails to an external hard drive, you've come to the right place. This page will guide you through two methods with detailed steps and screenshots on how to back up Outlook emails to an external hard drive.

Outlook is a personal information manager provided by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Office suite. It serves as an email application, calendar, task manager, contact manager, note-taking tool, journal, and web browser, all rolled into one. Owing to its versatility, many users rely on Outlook to manage their daily tasks and important information.

However, like any other software, Outlook is not perfect, and data loss can occur. It is crucial to back up your Outlook files regularly to prevent the loss of important emails or other data. By backing up your emails, you ensure that no crucial information is lost in case of software crashes or virus attacks, and these backups also enable you to easily restore Outlook backups.

The Benefits of Backing Up Emails to an External Hard Drive There are numerous advantages to backing up your emails to an external hard drive, and here are some of the key benefits: 1. **Data Security**: An external hard drive provides an extra layer of security against damage to your computer or network server, hacking, or viruses. Even if your original email storage fails, you'll still have access to your backups. 2. **Ease of Archiving**: Backing up to an external hard drive allows you to easily archive large volumes of emails. This is particularly useful for long-term preservation of important communications, project files, and transaction records. 3. **Offline Access**: If you need to view or search emails without an internet connection, having a local backup on an external hard drive enables you to access that information. 4. **Space Management**: If your email service provider has strict storage limits, backing up to an external hard drive can help free up online space while keeping all your important emails. 5. **Disaster Recovery**: In the event of natural disasters or unforeseen circumstances, having physical backups ensures you can recover your emails, crucial for business continuity and personal communication. 6. **Version Control**: Regular backups allow you to track different versions of your emails, so you can revert to earlier states when necessary. 7. **Portability**: External hard drives are easy to move, enabling you to take your backups with you and access them across multiple devices. 8. **Privacy Protection**: Storing sensitive email data on a personally controlled external hard drive adds an extra layer of privacy, avoiding reliance on third-party cloud services. 9. **Cost Efficiency**: Backing up emails using an external hard drive can be more cost-effective than cloud backup services, especially for high storage demands. 10. **Backup Strategy**: Backing up emails to an external hard drive is part of a regular backup regimen, ensuring your data stays current and secure. In summary, backing up your emails to an external hard drive is a smart data management and risk mitigation strategy. It offers a reliable way to protect and access your electronic communications.

Backing up your Outlook emails to an external hard drive is a great way to protect them in case your computer crashes or you accidentally delete your emails. There are several advantages to backing up your emails to an external hard drive:

• You can store a large amount of Outlook email on an external hard drive without taking up space on your computer's internal hard drive.
• Saving a backup to an external hard drive is a good way to protect your mail from software crashes or virus attacks.
• Email stored on an external drive is easy to view offline. You can carry the backup with you and access it on any computer by connecting the external hard drive.
• External hard drives are relatively inexpensive and easy to use. You can get a 1TB external hard drive for around $60.

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2 A Detailed Guide to Backing Up Outlook Emails to an External Hard Drive

Here, we will detail two methods to back up Outlook to an external hard drive in pictures. The first method is using free backup software - Todo Backup, which easily backs up Outlook emails, perfect for those who want to save time and effort. The second method is to export and save Outlook emails as .pst files to the external hard drive, which needs to be done manually every time you need to back up Outlook.

Method 1: Back Up Your Outlook Emails with Free Software (Beginner-Friendly)

Todo Backup is a free Outlook backup software that helps you back up Outlook, files, folders, partitions, and create a full system image. It lets you easily back up your Outlook emails in various formats, including .pst, .ost, and configuration files. You can schedule automatic backups and choose to compress and encrypt backup files.

In addition to internal and external hard drives, it also ensures your files are backed up to NAS devices, Tool Cloud (with 250GB of free cloud storage), and an encrypted zone. It's very user-friendly and supports full backups, incremental backups, and differential backups.

The steps to back up Outlook emails to an external hard drive using Todo Backup tool are as follows:

Step 1: Launch Todo Backup on your computer, and click “Create Backup” on the home screen, then click the big question mark to choose “Backup Content”.

Step 2: Tap on “App Data” among the four backup options.

Step 3: Next, you'll see all the apps that can be backed up. Check the box next to "Microsoft Outlook." Choose the email account from which you want to back up your emails, contacts, or calendar, and tap on "OK."

Step 4. Next, you need to select the location to save the Outlook backup by clicking on the browse area as shown in the image.

Step 5: The backup location can be another local disk on your computer, an external hard drive, a network, cloud storage, or a NAS. It is generally recommended that you save your backup files to an external physical drive or cloud storage.

Step 6. If interested, click on the Options button to customize your settings, such as scheduling daily, weekly, monthly, or event-based backups, and creating differential and incremental backups. Click "Backup Now" to commence the Outlook backup process. The completed tasks will be displayed as cards on the left side.

Method 2: Back Up Your Outlook Emails Using the Import/Export Wizard (For Tech-Savvy Users)

The Import/Export Wizard is a built-in feature of Outlook that you can use to export your Outlook emails and save them as a .pst file. You can use this tool to export all your Outlook items or just selected items.

To back up your Outlook email using the Import/Export Wizard, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Microsoft Outlook and choose File > Open & Import > Import/Export.

Step 2: In the Import/Export Wizard, select Export to a file, and click Next.

Step 3: Choose “Outlook Data File (.pst)” and click “Next.”

Step 4. Select the messages you'd like to back up, then tap “Done.”

Step 5. Click “Browse” and select the connected external device as the target save location, then click “Finish.”

Once the process is complete, unplug the external hard drive and store it in a safe place. This completes the backup of your Outlook emails to an external hard drive.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Backup Outlook Emails to an External Hard Drive

1. How can I save Outlook emails to my hard drive without using a PST file?

There are two ways to save Outlook emails without using a PST file. The first method is to drag and drop the emails into a folder on your hard drive. The second method is to use Outlook's export feature to save the emails as .msg files.

2. How can I save emails in Outlook in bulk?

You can select multiple emails in Outlook by holding down the Shift key while clicking them, then click File > Print.

Can I save e-mail from Outlook to my computer?

Yes, the Import/Export Wizard allows you to save your emails from Outlook to your computer. You can follow the second method mentioned above and choose your computer as the target storage location.

Bottom line

With the methods mentioned above, you can easily backup Outlook emails to an external hard drive. If you prefer a simple and automated solution, Todo Backup is your best choice. On the other hand, if you are used to the Export Wizard or don't mind spending some time on it, the Outlook Import/Export Wizard can also be an option. You can try them out based on your actual needs.

I highly recommend Todo Backup due to its advanced features and user-friendly interface.

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