Lay My Hat Forum

Mountain Goat · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:02 am Post subject: Backing up Gmail?

Loss of my Gmail account would trigger a one-way visit to Beachy Head - no other solution.

With this in mind, I tried using Thunderbird to download my Gmail account via POP, purely as a backup. It turned out to be painful, needing to nudge it every couple of hundred emails through the 14,000 or so in my Inbox, and it's still going strong, 24 hrs later.

It's not a solution, as it's only the Inbox, and although there's a workaround to add Sent Mail, it's unsatisfactory as the messages are mixed in one folder with the Inbox.

The solution is possibly IMAP, which means you can synchronise all your gadgets and access all your Gmail 'folders'.

My question is: Is this a backup? In other words do you end up with a duplicate of all your folders somewhere other than Gmail, which obviously makes sense?

I always need to access my email via the web - which may not be everybody's ambition.

Any advice is welcome. I don't find the Gmail forums that responsive, though that may be because N. America is asleep.

MG
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HelenB · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:39 am Post subject:

MG. One of my jobs for this weekend was to download all my Gmail to either Thunderbird or Outlook (I haven't decided which yet).

Mountain Goat · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:55 am Post subject:

Helen, I guess it depends on whether you need a backup of all folders, but IMAP appears to offer that. There's stacks of stuff in the Gmail/Thunderbird support pages.

This may help with deciding between Thunder and Outlook and this is Google's Blog on the subject, but there's stacks more out there to help, though the latest stuff may be more useful. Here's the support forum for Thunderbird, and you don't need to join to post.

Let us know what you decide and why?

MG
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KathyG · Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2421 Location: Le Faou, Brittany

But what makes you think you may lose your Gmail account MG? Confused

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Mountain Goat · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject:

There's quite a few sob stories out there complaining that it's happened to some unfortunates.

Mine is a free account at the moment, and if you read Google's advice on what you can do if you can't access it, it's not encouraging - basically: tough.

I was going to lash out my $50 or whatever for a paid account and tech support, but I've been too mean. At least that would give someone to rant at within Google support.

MG
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Alan Knighting · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject:

Chianti · Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 2828

I've had problems with Outlook and can't rely on it, so use my server as back up. I don't know if this would help you MG, rather doubt it with that quantity of messages.

Chianti

Alan Knighting · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:38 pm Post subject:

Mountain Goat · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject:

I thought that some people were extolling the virtues of storing everything on-line as a way of avoiding having to do backups.

That's interesting, I've never heard of that idea, which is a risky approach. I've heard of people working on their machines and backing up online, which is a nobrainer when attempting to ensure that one's data is in two independent locations.

You make it sound as though the sensible approach is to continue with an ISP e-mail system based on the use of Outlook and to backup locally.

Yes, I think that's the two independent locations route mentioned above, albeit in reverse. Outlook doesn't appear to be the answer though, as it can't access all folders of a Gmail setup.

I've never been attracted to Outlook; when I used it the search facility was not impressive, but I'm sure it has been improved.

MG
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Alan Knighting · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject:

Mountain Goat · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject:

Alan, I can't come out to play at the moment, but I'm sure we'll find time soon.

MG
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vrooje · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 3229 Location: Burgundy, France

I very much prefer Thunderbird to Outlook, but either way IMAP is probably not the solution you are looking for, MG.

You could try viewing Gmail with IMAP and then disconnecting your internet and viewing your inbox again; you will likely find that the inbox will disappear. Re-connect and voila, it's there again.

Downloading the messages via POP3 does actually keep a copy of the messages on your computer; with IMAP it's more like an image of your remote folder structure and downloaded messages on command, automatically and always up to date (or inaccessible if it can't update). Which means that if your remote Gmail went kaput, your IMAP account would reflect that.
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Alan Knighting · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:39 pm Post subject:

Nightowl · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:10 pm Post subject:

I like Gmail for dealing with rental enquiries.

I like it because I can access it where ever I am. I still have a day job and am away from my own PC for at least 10 hours a day and I don't want to spend all my evenings ploughing through the days' enquiries, updating rental site calendars etc,etc. I also like the fact I can share my google calendar with my cleaner (so she can see what is coming up and we can mark changeover days on it and other stuff that's useful to us both) and also my husband (so that if we are trying to arrange for building or garden work to be done he doesn't have to ring me 10 times to find out what dates we aren't booked for the builders to get access - he can check himself whilst he's on the phone to the builder)

From my pc at work I can access Gmail and all the history of my enquiries, plus my google calendar during my lunch hour and I have got all the information I need to deal with enquiries, update rental site calendars etc, etc.

Likewise if I am on holiday - I can continue answering enquiries and I have access to my bookings calendar via google. I also like the way that gmail groups email 'conversations' - you don't have to trawl back though your inbox to find what you said to whom - you just call up the 'conversation' and all the past emails to that individual are attached.

So that's why I use Google mail.

NOT because I don't need to back it up, but because it seems to be the best solution for my situation.

When people here first mentioned googlemail I couldn't see why anyone would want to use it - but having tried it, it has a lot more benefits to me than using Outlook - although I do agree that if I suddenly lost all my data it would be very inconvenient and this thread has alterted me that I need to do something about it.

But thinking about it, if I did lose gmail data, if I REALLY had to, I could get at the important data by a bit of trawling. I use Homelidays and their availability calendar allows owners to block out periods with a renters' name. so I wouldn't lose names of who is booked where. The rental sites I use ALL store the data of my enquiries - so if I have retrieved the names of bookings from Homelidays, I can find their email addresses through the website they originally contacted me on. So even if I haven't backed up, I still wouldn't have lost the crucial information about future bookings and dates booked. So I wouldn't need to join MG up there on Beachy Head just yet.

It's all about personal preference and what works for individuals - no 'one' solution - Outlook or Gmail, fits all sizes.

I'd be surprised if anyone's sole reason for using Gmail was because they don't need to back it up.
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Forever going one step forwards and two
backwards......
http://www.homelidays.com/london/apartment-flat144480en1.htm
http://www.homelidays.com/london/apartment-flat190993en1.htm
http://www.homelidays.com/chiclana/house-villa70705en1.htm

HelenB · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:43 pm Post subject:

My reasons for using it are much the same as yours. I use the Calendar and Google documents to share guest info with my apartment manager. I used to occasionally do a mail download to Outlook, but find myself doing so less and less.