Export all mailboxes (.PST) through PowerShell and save them on Nimble

[Gab-Dev]

Hello Tech Community!

I am looking to export  .PST mailboxes through PowerShell and wanted to know if it was possible to ship it directly to a Nimble storage. This requested was to be done following a need for a backup of all the user's mailboxes while we disable their subscriptions while COVID-19 renders them useless.

What information would I need from my customer to make this feasible? Also, would you guys happen to have insights on what the code would look like?

Thanks a ton!

Gabriel

[#2 · Accepted solution]

There is no such functionality in Office 365. The only thing that comes close is to run an eDiscovery export, but that's more of a workaround. There is however a free solution that will keep the mailboxes in "inactive" state: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/create-and-manage-inactive-mailboxes?view=...

[#3]

@Vasil Michev 

That's awesome news! Thank you very much for the reply. My customer was mostly interested in the free option that you mentioned since some of the users only have E1. Is there a way to create a retention policy that would last indefinitely provided that one account (at least) stays licensed to prevent the deletion?

The only ways that I found through your documentation (very accurate, thank you very much by the way) to ensure that data could be preserved until the end of the pandemic would be to create a litigation hold but that would require the licenses to stay active. Would you be so kind as to elaborate on (if such a thing is possible) the free solution to keep the mailboxes in an "inactive" state?

Best regards,

Gabriel

[#4]

The license is needed only up to the moment you "convert" the mailbox to Inactive, once you delete the user object there's no need for it (nor technically any way to assign it).