Long Term Storage of IMAP Emails

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My small company currently uses POP3 email. I use Entourage. I have 10,000+ business related emails which I store for approx 3 years before deleting. I have found saving these old emails to be useful in my work. I like the idea of having them stored locally, however, I would also like to move on to the benefits of IMAP (improved wireless syncing across devices)

I am considering switching to an IMAP service--possibly Gmail or MobileMe. Most services offer substantial storage space. My question is--How reliable are these services in terms of storing emails long term and not losing them? I fear building up several years of data with them, and one day syncing with their server, only to find that it is gone. And if I sync with their empty server, I'll lose the copies that are stored on my machine as well.

I maintain regular Entourage backups, so I can restore from a backup, but if I restore and then sync with the IMAP server, I imagine it would just re-delete the emails again.

I have not found an easy way to automatically store duplicate copies of IMAP emails locally while still maintaining the benefits of IMAP. Or does that defeat the purpose of IMAP? Am I just being paranoid about something that's probably a non-issue?
 

chscag

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You're not being paranoid. I don't have any sure answers either, however, it does seem like you are maintaining good backups of all your email.

To be honest, I use GMail IMAP and their on line storage but I don't favor it (or trust it) as my only means of backup. I too maintain separate local storage. I don't have as much to store as you do but it's significant enough to require a large amount of space that I could use for something else.

What I've been doing lately - is when I've accumulated enough mail or other clutter, I burn it to a DVD, label it and store it away. DVD media is so inexpensive nowadays that it can be used for storage. One of these days when Blue Ray comes down in price, I may spring for a burner. :)

Anyway, just my thoughts. Your situation and needs are what's going to dictate the path you need to follow.

Regards.
 

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