How to Save Outlook Emails to External Hard Drive?

Published By Jamie Kaler

Approved By Rollins Duke

Published On October 5th, 2023

Reading Time 9 Min Read

Summary: In this write-up, we are going to discuss the complete solution to save Outlook emails to external hard drive. Multiple users are having the same query and seeking an all-in-one solution to carry out the results as soon as possible.

This query is high-on-peak nowadays, and there are not only single but multiple users asking for the same solution. Even, though we had also received queries from most of the technical forums and after having a lot of solutions on the Internet, there is no such use for users.

“Hi! I am using Outlook 2016 email client application for the last few years. For some personal reasons, I am thinking of backup Outlook emails to external hard drive. For this, I did also try manual ways to save them. But I need to copy more than 10K+ emails from Outlook to Hard Drive format. Does RecoveryTools have any solution to save Outlook emails to external hard drive? If yes, then please guide.”

You know why hard drives have become a hot-selling computer hardware component. Why are we inventing fast storage hardware like SSD or NVMe? Because users know the importance of data backup, including saving Outlook emails to hard drive with attachments. Data is important and the same is for Outlook data! When it comes down to it, your data is only as secure as the backup you keep.

If we are talking about how to save Outlook emails to external hard drive? Then we are talking about both Outlook editions such as Desktop Application or Web App. In this guide, we will explain both procedures to save emails.

Reasons to Backup Outlook Emails to External Hard Drive

Quick Access Outlook Files: – One of the biggest things about saving Outlook emails to hard drive with attachments is the ease at which you are able to retrieve emails and other information. You can easily save the data to documents and other desired formats in your system.
Security Against Virus Attack: – Microsoft Outlook desktop client is much more secure according to other email client applications. But no one knows which virus can attack your Outlook email client.
Recovery If Operating System Fails: – Most computer crashes are caused by Operating System failures. There are many reasons why your systems fail such as memory allocation space, hardware failure, file corruption, application errors, etc. Another copy of Outlook emails to a Hard Drive is incredibly efficient when it comes to keeping your information in the event of an OS crash.
Easy, Fast Way to Restore Lost Emails: – There is a lot of potential to delete some important emails from human mistakes and delete emails accidentally. With an additional backup copy, you can easily restore your deleted data without losing information.

How to Save Outlook Emails to External Hard Drive Manually?

Here we are going to mention some steps to copy Outlook emails to an external drive. We will save emails in MSG and PST format using Outlook. Also, these methods have some limitations, which users have to read first before starting the process.

Method 1: Save Outlook Emails as PST

Open an Outlook account.
Click on the File tab from the ribbon and choose Open & Export >> Import/Export option.
Choose the Export to a File option from the list and hit the Next button.
Select the “Outlook data file (.PST)” and again click on the Next icon.
Browse the location to save the resultant file as per your choice.
Lastly, select the folder that you want to save locally and hit the Finish button.

Your emails will save in PST format at the selected location. Now we will save Outlook emails to external hard drive as MSG format.

Method 2: Drag and Drop Method

Again, open an Outlook account.
Now drag the email from the folder and drop it into the desktop screen.
And your emails will be saved in MSG format.

Limitations of Manual Methods

Outlook must be installed on your system.
PST and MSG files only can be opened with an Outlook account.
Also, PST file has a high risk of data loss and corruption due to large size.
And, if you want to save your emails in MSG format, then you have to repeat the process again and again for each email.

Important Note: Also, you can connect your Outlook account to Thunderbird using Outlook to Thunderbird converter or import PST files to Thunderbird without Outlook, to save Outlook emails to external hard drive in MBOX and EML format. The complete process with a step-by-step guide is stated in the mentioned blog, where you will get all the information.

Backup Outlook Emails to External Hard Drive with Attachments

RecoveryTools Outlook PST Migrator is the top-rated application in 2021. The tool has 25+ saving options to easily backup Outlook emails to hard drive. But before all the solutions, we need to know the reasons and the solutions mentioned above to save Outlook emails to external hard drive.

As we all know that Microsoft Outlook is very useful at the present time, therefore many home users and organizations are using this as their primary email client application. One can easily use Outlook on different platforms like desktop applications or cloud applications.

Keeping in mind the various aspects or requirements of the users, we will discuss the email backup solution for both Outlook Desktop Email Client and Outlook Web Client. Moreover, the mentioned tool is easy to use and can be easily operated by all existing users. Apart from that, it possesses multiple other unique features that are difficult to come by among all other solutions that exist in the market.

Moreover, it also has the ability to export Outlook data into multiple other formats such as Outlook emails to Windows 10 Mail, Outlook emails to a Text file, Outlook emails to PDF, and various others. There are several ways to save Outlook emails to external hard drive with complete mailbox items such as contacts, calendars, tasks, etc. Any user can easily get the Outlook data file from the default profile location on their computer. Download the mentioned utility free of cost and start saving the emails.

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Steps to Save Outlook Emails to External Hard Drive

Launch and Install the mentioned tool in your existing Windows OS system. Read all the mentioned instructions.
The software gives separate options to automatically load Outlook mailbox data into the software. And you can also choose data files with dual selection options.
Thereafter, you can view PST files/folders. Now, you must choose the required folders you want to back up.
In the next section, you need to choose the required email saving option to back up the emails into a particular format.
The software provides various additional options such as file naming options, destination location, ignoring system folders hierarchy, saving converted messages in the same source folder, etc.
You can easily save emails according to the desired location whether on Hard Drive or an External Hard Drive.
Once you have completed all the options, click on the Next button to start the saving process.
After the Conversion is finished successfully, it will display a confirmation message box. Click on the OK button to proceed further.
Check your Output files directly from the destination location.

The main reason, we recommend you to use this highly professional utility is that it allows to save Outlook emails to external hard drive with attachments. As well as work in multiple versions such as Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and other versions.

Backup Outlook Emails to External Hard Drive – Features Explained

Save Emails from Configured Account: – The software builds with all solutions that are helpful for all users who have come from non-tech or technical backgrounds. This program will automatically detect the data from the configured Outlook email client. Just select the “Convert Configured Outlook Mailboxes data” option.
Independent Solution: – The software comes with an independent platform to perform saving Outlook emails to a hard drive without requiring any third-party applications. In fact, there is no need to install your Outlook email client on your computer to perform saving emails.
Supports All Types of Outlook Data Files: – The software is one of the highly professional utilities that have the ability to backup emails and other data items from all kinds of files.
Maintains Original Folder Structure: – During the backing up of emails process, the software will maintain your email properties. such as emails with attachments, email addresses (to, cc, bcc, from), subjects, hyperlinks, images, text formatting, etc. Also, the software keeps your folder hierarchy structure maintained during the entire process.
100% Secure Way: – The software provides a completely secure interface that never saves your mailbox data inside the software panel or database. It is a professionally tested application to backup emails in a secure environment. No attack of Malware & viruses will be detected by the application while performing these kinds of operations.
Upload Data Files: If you have orphan PST files, then you can easily upload single and multiple data files to the software using Select Files and Select Folders options.

Conclusion

In the above discussion, we have explained the complete solution to save Outlook emails to external hard drive. Using the solutions mentioned above, users can easily back up emails and maintains the other email properties and structure. But by using the manual solution, there may be sometimes a loss of data, and also you can also back up the emails in the PST format. So, we recommend you to use the second-mentioned solution that allows users to save emails in multiple formats on an external hard drive.