The problem is backing up Entourage email files. Heavy email users will often have an MS Entourage database file that is 2 to 6 GB in size. (Entourage stores everything in one huge file.)
The Entourage database file will change with every arriving email. If Entourage is set to check for mail every 5 minutes the Entourage database file will change 12 times an hour. Apple's Time Machine runs hourly. It does incremental backups at the file level. It won't backup just the part of a large file that changed. If TimeMachine's hourly run tries to back up a file this large to a network volume the copy time will exceed 5 minutes. So the file is changing faster than the Time Machine backup can copy it. So how to backup an MS Entourage database file? I read someplace that a recent Apple update supports Time Machine incremental backups at the sub-file level, but now I can't find that info anywhere. Was I just dreaming? If I setup a separate backup program just for the Entourage database file, a backup to a network volume will slow down the client computer for 5 to 20 minutes. Having a bunch of these running will add a significant load on the server. So this is not a good option either. Any ideas? (Yes, now it is my turn to say that suggestions to "dump Microsoft" are not an option.) ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
