Computer and Library Learning (Archived)

After recent glitches with Gmail and Hotmail, some people may be concerned about losing information in their email account and considering the need to backup their information so that a copy is available somewhere else. Free web-based email options such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo are popular with users and generally offer people reliable service within a cloud computing context whereby information is not saved to a specific computer but is available through a server on the internet. However, there are users concerned about the need to backup their data and information.

There are different options for backing up information stored in email accounts, including creating/using another email account to back up the information stored in the primary account and/or saving information to a specific computer. Hotmail offers a free service called TrueSwitch that allows a user to copy her/his email messages and email contacts from another email account into a Hotmail account created by the user. One also has the option to have emails forwarded from the other account into the Hotmail account for 30 days upon using TrueSwitch. TrueSwitch is free if switching to or copying messages and contacts to a partner such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo; otherwise, there is a US$19.95 fee.

If one considers any of these options, be aware that there might be problems along the way. There have been reports on the internet denoting problems with switching messages from Gmail to either Hotmail or Yahoo. Some have reported problems with previously unread messages being marked as read. Gmail also partnered with TrueSwitch to encourage use of Gmail through the use of the Accounts and Import tab on the Settings page. Gmail offers two ways to import messages into a Gmail account by using either TrueSwitch or Mail Fetcher. Mail Fetcher is chosen if TrueSwitch is not successful in importing information into the Gmail account. With Mail Fetcher, a Gmail user accesses the Settings page, selects the Accounts and Imports tab, and clicks on the “Add POP3 email account” button under the “Check mail using POP3” section. Gmail users can select to leave a copy of retrieved messages on the other email account’s server (although there have been reported cases of messages being deleted. Gmail states that it asks the other provider to restore them but it is ultimately the decision of the original email provider.), use a secure SSL (https://) connection when retrieving mail, label incoming messages, and/or archive incoming messages. Yahoo also uses TrueSwitch to transfer contact information, email messages and calendar information. However, the free Yahoo Mail option does not support POP3 (post office protocol). POP3 is available through the fee-based Yahoo Mail Plus. A post office protocol consists of a server used to store email messages. Incoming messages may also be accessed through an email client program such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Outlook Express. More on email clients in a future post…