Deleted Item Recovery and Data Security

Be Calm. Here's what you need to know.

People are always asking us if we do backups. Good grief. Of course we do. We're not playing around here, we're serious about this business. Plus, we've been offering Exchange Hosting since 1998, and we haven't lost any data yet. You are well protected against the unlikely event of server-related disaster.

But often when people ask about backups, what they really want to know is whether we can help when they accidentally delete something. This page will explain the issues involved and answer that question.

First the bad news. The current Exchange server backup system is an all-or-nothing disaster recovery system. If we lose a server, we can recreate it. But this system does not give us the luxury of browsing through historical points in time and finding particular items that have been deleted.

Now the good news. Exchange provides a deleted item retention period. It is configured for 10 days. So generally speaking, you can recover things that have been deleted within the past 10 days.

Here's how it works. When you delete an item from your inbox, calendar or other mailbox folder, it goes into the deleted items folder in your mailbox. Normally, it will stay there until you delete it from that folder.

Here are some exceptions to that.

After you delete items from the deleted items folder, or "permanently" delete them, then the clock starts to run on the 10-day deleted item recovery period. During the 10 day period, items can normally be recovered using the deleted item recovery feature.

After the 10 day period, what's gone is gone.

Here's how to use the Recover Deleted Items feature.

1. You might need to go to the View menu in Outlook and choose Folder List in order to see your deleted items folder. Click the deleted items folder in the folder list to select it. Its contents will be displayed. The presence of entire folders will be indicated by a plus sign next to the deleted items folder icon.
2. If the item or folder you need is not in your deleted items folder, go to the Tools menu and choose Recover Deleted Items. The Recover Deleted Items window will appear.
3. Select the items you want to recover and click the Recover Selected Items button. They will be restored to the deleted items folder.

Public Folders

When you delete something from a public folder, it does not go into anyone's deleted items folder. It is "permanently" deleted immediately.

In order to recover items from a public folder, first select the public folder which contained those items, then choose Recover Deleted Items from the Tools menu.

In order to recover an entire public folder, select the parent folder which contained it, then choose Recover Deleted Items from the Tools menu.

Please note, there is a known issue (bug) with Exchange relative to recovering entire public folders that had been deleted. Unfortunately, it often does not work. When you try, it throws up an error message about inadequate permissions, even though the permissions are adequate. It is important for users to be aware of this limitation, and plan accordingly.

We have successfully deleted and recovered entire public folders. Nonetheless, we think you would be wise to avoid betting your life on the ability to recover deleted public folders. See the tips below and make sure you always have backup copies of important folders.

Data Security - A Word To The Wise

Here are some technical tips for how to protect your company against accidental deletion of important Exchange server data.

1. Periodically export a copy of your important public folders into a pst file and store the pst file in a safe place, such as a CD-ROM. See tech support on working with Outlook Data Files (pst files). Use the export command on the file menu. If the folders are large, it is important to do this while you're working in cached mode, so it goes at the speed of your machine, not the speed of your network connection.
2. Reduce permissions on all public folders, especially your top level public folder. When your organization is created at Exchange Hosting Service, the All ... Recipients group will be given Owner permissions on your top level public folder. This means anyone in your group could potentially delete that folder, and everything in it, which means all your public folders and everything they contain.
3. Give people only the permissions they need. Only your lead person should have more than read-only on your top level public folder. Right click any folder, choose properties, then permissions to see the controls. They are very specific and easily adjustable.
4. Be aware that an offline folder file (ost file) is not the same as a personal folder file (pst file). Recovering data from a pst file is as simple as drag and drop. Recovering data from an offline folder file, if that data has been deleted from the server, can sometimes only be accomplished with special tools at great expense. There are companies on the Internet who will perform this service for several hundred dollars.
5. If you discover that important data has been deleted from the server, and you know it still exists in someone's offline folder file, do not connect to the server with that machine. Do not even connect that machine to the Internet. Make a copy of the ost file immediately. Start Outlook and work offline. Create a pst file on that machine and drag (or export) a copy of the folders into the pst file. Be aware, once that machine connects to the server, it will request updates and changes, and the server will instruct it to delete the data from the ost file. 

See the following Microsoft resources relative to backing up your Outlook data:

How to automatically backup your personal folders file in Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2003

Using the Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup tool

Back up Outlook e-mail messages

Congratulations. By choosing Exchange Hosting Service, you have taken a big step toward keeping your data safe. If you go even further and follow the steps outlined above, you will greatly reduce the likelihood of ever finding yourself in the position of having lost important data.

Thank you for your confidence, and for doing your part.