Urgent question for IT experts...

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Hi,

I am at work and we are about to have an office move to another part of the same building, which is on the same network.

We have been told to archive all our emails, but none of the NT sheep in the office thought to ask WHY we needed to do this.

The emails are currently on a network drive, NOT the hard drive, and can currently be accessed from any PC in the building.

So why do we need to move them?

(I am reluctant to do this if I don't have to, because last time I archived my emails I never saw them again!)

Because your authorization to view them might break.

How?

We hotdesk, so we can already log in at any terminal anywhere.

Why would this change?

They might have just said it as a precaution.
Maybe the people that asked you to backup your emails don't even know why they asked it.

It could just be something they learned to tell people when they have to move people around.

I'd say if in doubt, get one of them to explain why ... it might be something you haven't been told about yet
(...errrr ...like ...errrr ...hmm ...ah! ...they could be upgrading the network servers at the same time)

Because if you don't backup your mails, somthing bad will happend, and it will all be lost.
murphy's law ftw!:P

if they tell you to backup your mails, DO IT ! !! ! cause if your sound card suddenly stop working after the move, they'll tell you it's your fault for not having done your backup! yes i'm joking...., but just a bit Like someone else explained, maybe they're doing something else at the same time (upgrade servers or softwares etc....). Or it may aslo be nothing else than CMA (cover my a**); it puts the responsability on the user's shoulders....

btw, users should ALWAYS have a backup of thier stuff. Don't wait for your IT department to tell you, do it now, and not only for mails....

on another note, IT department's mandate about the company's data (and of course, all the data the employees produce) is "Availability, integrity, security, continuity" (continuity refers to "not loosing" the company's data).... so in a perfect world, the IT department should backup your data, or at least give you two things: a (secure, off-site, daily tape backuped) place where to store it, and a procedure about how to do so....


edit: oh! this was my 333rd post here !

Last edited by coyote on 25 Jul 2008, 12:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

its also possible that if the portal is something like outlook or windows mail (using as an example) because the move to another area of building may mean that tehy will not move the computer terminals themselves since outlook's emails are usually sent to computer's harddrive.

i think to prevent having to do this a network mail archive drive on a rackmount server could help along with account autherization (type in a user name and password from any computer) should make it unnecessary to archive the mail.

another alternative to just take important mails and click save or make a folder on the (pop3 or IMAP based) email portal and just drag and drop to the filder the important stuff so its saved on the isp's or carrier's mail server.

good luck and if still no luck, and still curious, it don't hurt to ask why

Ah - this might explain it - we use Groupwise, not Outlook. So maybe they got confused.....

There is no way they could be on the hard drive though - if they were, how could they be accessed from multiple terminals?



Of couse I have to ask why - I'm an aspie!! !! !

Thing is, this is not about not COPYING them, or backing them up, but actually MOVING them, that is why I am worried.

Last time I moved them, I never found them again, so I really do feel much safer leaving them where they are!

I think I will compromise & move the old stuff I never look at but leave the current ones alone (I have dealt with all the stuff that needs actioning anyway)

That way I will get to test which way is safe, or if both are.

And if it is just a question of losing my authorisation to view them, I can always get them to reset it again.

I don't think they are doing anything to the server, because they are not moving everyone in the whole building, just switching two departments.

If the I.T. Department is moving operations as well, then there is a really really good reason why you need to back up your data. Many hardware failure occur right after the transporting of the computer. This is because the bumps from moving may jiggle something loose. I've had computers run for years only to fail when they have been moved. The fix usually is to take them apart and re-assemble. I know this from experience.

It doesn't sound like there's a good reason for you to backup the data if it is on a network drive. I could see problems if the network drive is being moved also - but you would think the guys in charge of IT would backup the entire drive rather than requesting each user to do so.

I would suggest following their advice anyway. If something does go wrong, IT will pass the buck and say "I told you so" and you'll be without your information and possibly SOL.

You should really back all of your emails up right before you move.

Groupwise and Outlook are both email clients. One happens to be a desktop app, the other a web portal, but it doesn't really matter. It's just the interface you use to connect to your company's SMTP server. You mentioned that they're not moving everything at once. My guess is that they have set up a new SMTP server on the new network. When you move, you're account will be migrated over to the new server and all of the emails you get from then on will be accessible from that server. It will not, however, have a copy of your old emails. Those will still be on the old server. That is why they're asking you to save them. This has happened twice where I work.

If you’re worried about loosing them, you can just make a local copy without deleting the original on the server.