Exmerge can't shrink pst ?

[vectorw16]

Hi,

I'm in test phase for an Exch 5.5 to 2003 migration !
I'm using exmerge for 5.5 to export all my mail in pst files!

1 I export a mailbox in pst
2 The user delete some stuff in the mailbox do I export it again using the merge option...

Exmerge doesn't shrink it... it leaves the deleted messages inside the pst ... is there a way to change this behaviour ?

Or I'll need to export all my mailboxes 1 day before the migration ?

Thanks

 

[sab4you]

call me silly, but after the user deleted the files, did you again delete them from the 'Deleted Items' folder?

 

[vectorw16]

Yes of course !

I have even deleted a huge ammount of email just to be sure ! Same result !

 

[dkediger]

I believe, but am not totally sure, that there's a command line switch for EXMERGE to ignore deleted items.

 

[markdmac]

You can centrally force deleted items to be emtied from all mailboxes. I would do that.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[HessA]

Any reason you are using exmerge over the move mailbox tool in Exchange Manager offers? When I went from 5.5 to 2K3 we used the move mailbox option to move 500 mailboxes successfully.

Hope this helps,

Aaron

 

[vectorw16]

I'm using exmerge cuz I don't want to connect my servers together. I've change everything from Nt4 to 2003 (domain name, username etc.).

Exmerge is working fine but I tought I could export all my mailboxes in advance and update all the pst with the merge option before the migration...

I can do that but the PST won't shrink... Exmerge will only add new emails since the last time I export it won't delete emails in the already exported pst!

I guess I will just plan 4h of exmerge before the migration.

Thanks for your answers

 

[adcfaq]

pst shrink is alway an issue, u may want to look for some 3rd party for help

http://www.pstcompactor.com/index.php

 

[markdmac]

So to clarify what you are looking for, you are looking for a way to have exmerge only merge differential data so as not to duplicate efforst and allow you to prestage the exports as much as possible?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[vectorw16]

Yes that's about it !
I would like to export all my mailboxes few days in advance
Then merge differential data before the migration weekend.

But with the way exmerge works, when I'll import the mailboxes in Exch 2k3, I'll copy e-mails that have been deleted since the first time I've exported everything !

 

[markdmac]

If that is your concern then you should wait on the export until just prior to the migration.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

 

[strongm]

>I've change everything from Nt4 to 2003 (domain name, username etc.).

In my opinion this is the most difficult route to take - not least because little if any of the support documentation from Microsoft or any of the 3rd party sites seems prepared to tackle it. Most of the knowledgebase articles and whitepapersd assume that there will be at some point a 5.5/2K3 coexistence

If you are going to do it the way you are suggesting you need to plan and time things very carefully, else you get the problems you are experiencing.

 

[vectorw16]

If you are going to do it the way you are suggesting you need to plan and time things very carefully"

Yes that's why I'm doing test with exmerge right now !

I know this way of doing things is not well documented from microsoft but the company is small! And the NT4 structure was a mess so I decided to restart from 0 and document everything !

In fact I have imported my own mailbox from Pst to 2003 and it worked fine! But like mark said "you should wait on the export until just prior to the migration". And I will plan a 4h export in my prep.

Thanks for your post