Moving .ost file from old to new computers

The_professor

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Feb 26, 2009, 1:24:02 PM2/26/09

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I work in a large organisation that has need to move from .ost files from an
older device being replaced to the new device. We are using XP,
Office/Outlook 2003/ and Exchange 2007. We have recently enabled Cached
Mode, as a part of our upgrade procedure we back up the .ost file from the
old machine to a network share. That .ost file is then copied to the new
machine and the Outlook profile configured to use the copied .ost file. Our
initial testing seem prove this was a workable scenriao. Now, I am seeing
the following error:

"Outlook is using an old copy of your Offline Folder file (.ost). Exit
Outlook, delete the .ost file, and restart Outlook. A new file will be
automatically created the next time you initiate a send/recieve. "

There is a MS article 872930 that describes how the deploy the .oab file for
Cached Mode. I simply want to use a file that is already out there and
contains 98% of the data that the end user needs.

Has anyone tried this before and gotten it to work?

neo [mvp outlook]

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Feb 28, 2009, 3:07:04 PM2/28/09

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The error message just means that computer you took a copy of the OST from
has started Outlook again and sync'd with Exchange. This destroys the seed
OST that you wanted to use.

"The_professor" <Thepro...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F777AB4E-0DF7-410F...@microsoft.com...

neo [mvp outlook]

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Mar 4, 2009, 6:53:52 AM3/4/09

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Correct.

"The_professor" <Thepro...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:8CAA4F25-1B55-45BC...@microsoft.com...
> Neo,
>
> Let me see if I understand this correctly;
>
> I backup a user's ost file at 09:00 from computer XP1. Customer reopens
> Outlook and continues working. I build computer XP2 and place the .ost
> file
> in the appropriate directory. However, I will receive the error I
> described
> because the customer continued working on the original .ost on computer
> XP1.
> Correct?

The_professor

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Mar 4, 2009, 8:31:01 AM3/4/09

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Thanks for the help, Neo. I am testing and will post the results.

The_professor

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Mar 9, 2009, 3:14:02 PM3/9/09

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Neo - You are a genius!! Your answer is 100% accurate! After a hours of
running n circles on this issue, this was the answer I was looking for.
Thanks for your help!

ger...@gmail.com

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Jun 22, 2012, 2:14:13 PM6/22/12

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Did you have to resave the old ost?

lucife...@gmail.com

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Aug 9, 2013, 1:40:30 AM8/9/13

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The reason why, OLD .ost files cannot be directly move into new devices is that when Outlook is used in Cached Exchange Mode with Exchange server then OST files is created with particular profile. Exchange server encrypts the .ost with same profile only. If old profile is modified then data from ost files will be inaccessible and you will get error messages.

To solve the error and to access old ost file on new system, you are required to convert old ost file to pst file and then import PST files any new computer.

For recovering all data from old ost files PCVITA OST Converter software is the right choice. The software extract entire data (emails, contacts, calendars, notes, lists, tasks etc) from old ost files into Outlook PST files without missing any data value.

Visit the Official Site to Get All Info: http://www.pcvita.com/ost-converter.html