The next time you start Outlook it will automatically try to open the pst-file again. When you connect to a pst-file, Outlook will add a reference to this pst-file to your mail profile. If you forget to do this, you can use scanpst.exe to check your pst-file for errors. In order to prevent this, you must always remember to first close Outlook before shutting down or detaching your external drive. When Outlook loses the connection to a pst-files while Outlook is still running, the pst-file could get damaged. Close Outlook before detachingĪnother (and even bigger!) concern is that Outlook requires continuous access to a pst-file. For USB-sticks (or flash-drives), this isn’t always the case as they usually struggle more with multiple read/write operations at the same time. With USB 3.0 hard disks, the performance issue is basically gone. While there are no reading/writing issues similar to connecting to pst-files on a network share (which isn’t supported!), external drives are often slower and/or have power saving features which could interrupt or slowdown Outlook performance. With some additional knowledge and precautions, it is possible to use it in a safe way and not risk any data loss. Yes, using a pst-file from a USB-drive is supported but still not recommended. Is using my pst-file from an external USB-drive supported? Somebody told me that connecting to pst-files stored on a network share isn't supported and that this would also apply to USB-drives which got me wondering
Archive mac mail to external drive archive#
I have an Outlook archive (pst-file) stored on an external USB-drive which I carry with me so I can use it from both my main PC and my laptop.