Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/50188
STEPS TO ELIMINATE THE OVERWHELMING PST PROBLEM time access to the archived data, and then allowing ingestion back into the mailbox. When ingesting the data, whether it has been archived or not, there will be a hit on network bandwidth. The ability to set rate controls is important. Features such as "only ingest between these times," "throttle the bandwidth used," "throttle the processing to maintain end-user productivity," and more advanced technologies to manage the ingestion process are absolutely essential. Patience is also required as bringing this amount of data into Exchange or to an archive takes time. GIVE PST PROJECTS PRIORITY As with most projects, the number of PST files is likely to present a challenge. A firm with 500 people will have a small IT staff compared to one with 5,000 people, but the number of PST files that need to be addressed will seem like a mountain to either group. Therefore, a PST project should not be undersold to firm or company management. If 30 percent of the PST files reside on laptops or desktops, as is typical, then finding and moving them is going to take time and considerable effort. Mistakes cannot be afforded when eliminating PSTs, as accidental elimination could look like spoliation in a discovery situation. With each PST project, it is advisable to take a step-by-step approach: estimating the size of the problem, pursuing a detailed understanding of the data, planning for the elimination of data and then beginning the process. Rushing the process can lead to bottlenecks and user complaints. And users should not be expected to get involved with the project; they may have created the PST files, but the only people who can remove them are in IT. ILTA A Growing Challenge There are many reasons why a PST would be generated in an organization. Used to store messages, calendar items and other data in Microsoft Exchange Server, these archives are sometimes created to comply with restrictions imposed by the organization itself, some are a result of poor user awareness, and some are generated simply to ease the handover of data from one employee to another. Regardless of the reason, PST files are an information management concern for not only IT staff, but for attorneys as well. For IT departments, PST files present backup, recovery, corruption and discovery challenges. Many of the files reside on laptops or workstations that are not backed up, are not easily accessible and are of an excessive size that leads to corruption. For corporate counsel and law firm attorneys the challenges are about compliance and risk. With little or no access to the data inside a PST, there is high risk that the data do not comply with corporate retention policies; and in the event of litigation, there is little or no access to the data that could be critical to that litigation case. ILTA www.iltanet.org Tech Potpourri 41