Backing up email messages

Backup your email databases before attempting repairs.

• Certain tools (e.g. ScanPst for MS Outlook) will modify the email database during repairs. If the repair goes wrong, the situation may become worse than it was before repairs. You would need to revert to your backups to try another solution.
•  Sometimes the email client might damage the once broken database further upon startup.

Typically, backup is done by just copying several files somewhere to a secure location. Make sure your system settings are configured as appropriate, then see the corresponding email client reference for the location of its message base files (MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird). You need to copy these files somewhere outside their original location using either Windows Explorer or your favorite file manager.