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Best Way To Archive Emails For Later Searching?
An anonymous reader writes "I have kept every email I have ever sent or received since 1990, with the exception of junk mail (though I kept a lot of that as well). I have migrated my emails faithfully from Unix mail, to Eudora, to Outlook, to Thunderbird and Entourage, though I have left much of the older stuff in Outlook PST files. To make my life easier I would now like to merge all the emails back into a single searchable archive — just because I can. But there are a few problems: a) Moving them between email systems is SLOW; while the data is only a few GB, it is hundred of thousands of emails and all of the email systems I have tried take forever to process the data. b) Some email systems (i.e. Outlook) become very sluggish when their database goes over a certain size. c) I don't want to leave them in a proprietary database, as within a few years the format becomes unsupported by the current generation of the software. d) I would like to be able to search the full text, keep the attachments, view HTML emails correctly and follow email chains. e) Because I use multiple operating systems, I would prefer platform independence. f) Since I hope to maintain and add emails for the foreseeable future, I would like to use some form of open standard. So, what would you recommend?"
Maildir storage format is resistant to bit-rot because it stores each message in a separate file, and uses filesystem directories for mail folders. It's widely supported by user agents (mail readers) and IMAP/POP3/SMTP servers, so you'll never be stranded by the actions of a single software vendor. Finally, it's easily searched using everyday unix tools - find, grep, sed, awk, etc., and you can use the full-text search engine of your choice for speedy searches.
I never thought of turning an ancient host into an alarm clock.
Once however, I did hollow out an SGI case and turn it into a refrigerator.
The case was just too damned pretty to throw away.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
And now the poster becomes an advertiser's dream come true in addition to being a hostile lawyer's dream come true. ;-)
Remember that from Google's perspective gmail is a tool to better profile you for targeted advertising. Make sure you are OK with that before giving them access to all your emails.