Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Security and Technology : POP3 foolishness: Backing it up, Nuking it and starting over

[kimrari]

Howdy,

So, I have my own dedicated server and have been rather neglectfull.

I currently have about 24 thousand email messages from the last few years. Like a tard, I always clicked "leave a copy of messages on server" on my mail clients.

So, I've been doing some reading and have decided to start over usin IMAP instead of POP3. Since I have all the messages in Outloop (go go 700 Meg .PST!) I',m looking for the best way to:

1. Back up my mail on the server
2. Nuke it all
3. Convert to IMAP

I then plan on installing something like http://www.roundcube.net/

I'm on a linix redhat server running cpanel.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Engelmacher]

And you think that IMAP will reduce the number of messages you forget to remove from your server because...

[theBleeber]

I am not 100% because I do not use outlook anymore but doesnt it have a backup feature? Why not tell it to archive all emails older than 12 months and burn that to a cd for archival purposes. That's if you want to save all of that mail.

This solution is kinda off the wall but hey:
Sign up for a Gmail account. Add the pop account. Tell it to pull all messages. Then you have it all saved and easily searchable. Then you can wipe all the mail off the server and start from the beginning.

IMHO: IMAP > POP3

[theBleeber]

Originally Posted by Engelmacher

And you think that IMAP will reduce the number of messages you forget to remove from your server because...

It seems that he may be deleting the mail in outlook however the since it is storing a copy on the server it is always there (on the server).

Switching to IMAP would help. If he deleted mail in outlook, (thunderbird.. switch. ) it would also be deleted on the server.

[kimrari]

Originally Posted by CaroTech04

It seems that he may be deleting the mail in outlook however the since it is storing a copy on the server it is always there (on the server).

Switching to IMAP would help. If he deleted mail in outlook, (thunderbird.. switch. ) it would also be deleted on the server.

This is absolutely it.

One of the suggestions about getting a gmail account is pretty cool, but is it possible to make a backup that I could save on the server in a rar or tar format in case a restore is ever needed? And how would I delete the entire mail file/folder on the server?

[Engelmacher]

Originally Posted by CaroTech04

It seems that he may be deleting the mail in outlook however the since it is storing a copy on the server it is always there (on the server).

Switching to IMAP would help. If he deleted mail in outlook, (thunderbird.. switch. ) it would also be deleted on the server.

Not checking that box would accomplish the same thing. I don't run an IMAP daemon at all and I don't have a single unwanted message sitting on my server.

[kimrari]

any guidance?