Here in the SaneBox support department, we’ve been testing out the Retrospect Backup software for macOS. Retrospect has a built in Email account backup system (that works with almost any email account that supports imap.) Retrospect Solo gives you a DIY email account backup tool that you can set up yourself for well under $50. So it’s worth a look.
Do I really need an Email Backup system
Just because your email lives on your host’s mail server doesn’t mean it’s constantly backed up or immune to trouble. Anything from simple mistakes to unintended human error or viruses and yes even email phishing attacks or ransomware, and trouble could arise. So it would be best for us all to just make sure we have a backup plan for any important email accounts.
What if I’m not a SaneBox subscriber, but I have email worries?
At SaneBox we’re in the business of ai powered email prioritizing and email processing tools that boost your focus for what matters. Even still, we are wild about anything to do with email and so we can’t help but want you all to avoid any email disasters. So while SaneBox is not in the email backup business, we’re still eager to try and remind everyone to think carefully. Go ahead, raise your hand if you do not have a backup system for your important email account? And even if you aren’t using SaneBox as a subscriber or trial user yet, feel free to contact our support team via the links atop this help page.
Retrospect Email Backup Crash-Course
Retrospect is a backup product that goes way back to the early days and has been reborn again. Since it’s made to do all sorts of backups and not just email account backups, we wanted to quickly cover some key points for you in order to make it easier to jump in and get an email account backup done. Retrospect backup can be used like a centralized backup server for multiple computers, but the “Solo” desktop / laptop version can just be used for the computer it runs on as well as email account backups and possibly a couple of mobile devices too.
Hopefully once you review the points covered below, Retrospect setup will be simple.
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A backup “source” in Retrospect Backup Solo can be any file or files or hard drives or yes even an Email account.
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As part of the steps, you will create a “Media Set” for your Retrospect backup. The Media Set is where you set up the destination for the backup to be stored, either on a local drive and/or in cloud storage and such.
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When going through the steps, you’ll use a “+” sign button if you need to create a new “Source” entry (where you choose to make the source an email account) or if you need to make a new Media Set (where you designate the storage device “members”.)
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As part of the Media Set configuration, Retrospect uses the term “members” for the name it uses to label or refer to the designated hard drives or file folder locations you tell it to save the backup files to.
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When creating the Media Set: the -type- you’ll almost always make is called a “Disk” type Media Set. (There is also a choice to make a Media Set type called “File”, but disk type is the default that is also most versatile.)
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You may never use the prominent “Storage Devices” section you’ll see. it’s for less common devices like tape backup machines. So don’t get side-tracked there. You do not set up your backup destination under that section, for backups you’ll put on a local hard drive or in a cloud storage account. (The Media Set “members” steps is the only place where most of us will deal with those backup storage location choices. “Members” can be managed or adjusted from inside each Media Set.)
Special Note for Email Backups: with some email hosts (like we’ll see here with our Yahoo! example email account backup), you will need to make an app-specific password just for Retrospect to use with your IMAP email hosting server.
Email Backup using Retrospect
We used a Yahoo email account for our successful Retrospect email backup tests. (AOL also supports the use of app-specific passwords and should be compatible with this process too.)
The “Solo” version of Retrospect Desktop for macOS worked nicely, as the version of Retrospect Backup that we purchased to test with. We used Retrospect to copy a Yahoo email account’s contents to a locally stored backup file on a Mac in our test labs. You can and should also consider setting up so there’s an additional copy of the email account backup that you have set to regularly backup to a cloud storage account too.
Now just follow these Yahoo / AOL Mail backup steps
1st: + ADD SOURCE
Add a “source” as the email account you want to back up.
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Begin by preparing an app-specific password for the Retrospect backup software to use to connect to your Yahoo (or AOL) email account.
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Launch Retrospect and select the “Sources” section, to “Add “ your email account.
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Click to Add a source and select the tab for “Email”, to complete your entry.
2nd: + ADD a MEDIA SET
Add a “Media Set” to save your email backup to.
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Here you’ll select the “Media Sets” section, and use the “Add” button to start the process, to make what they call a “Media Set”, where the backup destination setup goes.
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Select “Disk” for the backup format type for your locally stored backups, (or “Cloud” for online storage options like Dropbox or AWS or Backblaze.)
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Be sure to consider the need for choosing a high level of encryption for the backup file, and entering a strong password to protect it. (Always document your backup file passwords and file them in a safe place.)
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Finish by choosing a backup file storage drive location, by adding a “Member” to the Media Set.
3rd: > START BACKUP
Use Backup toolbar button, to access the Backup Assistant wizard.
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After launching the Backup Assistant, select manual mode.
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Next you’ll select the “source” email account you set up, for what you want to backup.
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Then you’ll choose the media set you plan to save the email account backups to.
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Start your backup and allow ample time for completion, based on the volume of email you have.
Example view of an Email Account backup in progress
Thank you for taking time to review this email backup example scenario with us today. And even if Retrospect Backup isn’t the ultimate solution you choose, we hope this post has helped you in being sure you have plans for a backup system for your important email accounts. (Retrospect has additional help pages showing backup steps for other email hosts, like Gmail or G Suite.)
Now Retrospect’s own Yahoo! Email backup help page
https://www.retrospect.com/en/support/kb/how_to_set_up_a_yahoo_account_as_email_account
Plus some extra Retrospect Backup software resources
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About Retrospect Email Protection:
https://www.retrospect.com/en/products/email -
Add a “Media Set” to your Retrospect backup setup:
https://www.retrospect.com/en/documentation/user_guide/mac/operations#preparing-for-retrospect-operations -
Set up to save certain Retrospect Backup jobs to cloud storage:
https://www.retrospect.com/br/support/kb/how_to_set_up_a_backblaze_b2_account -
Retrospect Desktop Backup “Solo” version (for Mac or Windows): https://www.retrospect.com/en/products/solo
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Retrospect backup company, recently acquired by Drobo owners:
https://channelbuzz.ca/2019/06/storcentric-acquires-retrospect-which-will-become-a-separate-subsidiary-like-drobo-and-nexsan-31098/ -
Retrospect summer 2019 press release, as sister company to Drobo:
https://www.retrospect.com/en/press/2019/06/25/retrospect_inc_joins_storcentric_family
2FA / MFA help pages for Yahoo and AOL
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Yahoo! help page on making an app specific password in their 2FA security system. (For you to make the imap app-specific password Retrospect will need to use to connect to your email account.): https://help.yahoo.com/kb/generate-third-party-passwords-sln15241.html
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AOL app-specific password help, (for Retrospect use): https://help.aol.com/articles/Create-and-manage-app-password
Please let our SaneBox support team know of any of your own suggestions around the topic of email backup. And even if you haven’t become a SaneBox subscriber or if maybe you haven’t even started a free trial yet, we’d still be glad to field any general questions you might have about anything to do with email backup or anything else email related. Just write in to us from this link here.