How to Import PST to Office 365 Using Drive Shipping Method-2

Migrations to Office 365 are discussed widely among the network of digital organizations. Most popular migration is from Outlook to Office 365. as there are many advantages with the cloud platform like anywhere accessibility, easy management, large storage space, advanced security, shared mailboxes provision, better features, etc.

Office 365 has an Import feature which offers to Import PST fine to Office 365 to through drive shipping method and network upload method. In this article, we will be discussing the drive shipping method. It can migrate bulk PST files from Outlook to cloud destination.

Simple Ways to Import PST File to Office 365

• Import PST Files to Office 365 Using Network Upload Method
• Import PST to Office 365 Using Drive Shipping Method

Drive Shipping Method

This manual technique includes the process of copying the PST files and storing it to the hard drive type storage device. This hard drive is then transferred to Microsoft physically and then they will be assigning a member to upload the data from this hard drive to Azure storage location. After this, user can utilize the Office 365 Import feature to import the PST data to Office 365.

What are the pre-requirements for this procedure?

Users must go through and fulfill these pre-requirements before pursuing the procedural steps.

• Administrator must be assigned Mailbox Import Export Role to import the PST files to cloud mailboxes
• A shared folder must be available to store PST files for import
• Make sure that the PST file is not exceeding 20GB size limit
• Hard drive to store PST must be encrypted with BitLocker
• Set retention period as infinite
• Organization or administrator must have account with DHL or FedEx
• Use only Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) to perform Drive Shipping

Let us know more about this native Drive Shipping solution in deep through the steps:

1. Downloading the secure storage key and Azure Import tool
2. Copying the PST files to hard drive
3. Creating PST Import mapping file
4. Creating PST Import job
5. Hard drive shipping to Microsoft
6. Data filters and start Import

Step1. Downloading the Secure Storage Key and Azure Import Tool

1. Open your Office 365 account with administrator login credentials and go to Security & Compliance Center>Data Governance >Import. Then, click + to add new import job. Add any name for the job and click on Next.
2. Under Choose import data type section, select the option Ship hard drives to one of our physical locations and click on Next.
3. Click on copy the secure storage key option to copy the key and paste it at a secured file location. Download the Azure Import/Export tool from the given option for drives preparation.
4. Install the downloaded WallImportExport.exe on the system.

Step2. Copying the PST Files to Hard Drive

1. Open the Command Prompt and add the directory location where the installed WallImportExport.exe is stored.
2. Then execute this command –
   WAImportExport.exe PrepImport /j:<Name of journal file> /t:<Drive letter> /id:<Name of session> /srcdir:<Location of PST files> /dstdir:<PST file path> /sk:<Storage account key> /encrypt /logdir:<Log file location>
   Add the required details in the above command in between brackets <> as per your import.
3. As soon as this command is run, the copying of PST files to the hard drive starts. The time period for copy depends on the PST files sizes and numbers.

Step3. Creating PST Import Mapping File

1. In the Office 365 Import page, there is an option Download the copy of the PST import mapping file. Click on this option and save the CSV file on the system location.
2. Edit this CSV file in excel format and enter the details for PST files and Office 365 mailboxes as per their mapping against each other.
3. Save this edited CSV file on your system location.

Step4. Creating PST Import Job

1. Go to Import page as done in the first step and click on + to create a new Import job, enter the name for the job, etc. and create a job.
2. Now go to the Import Data page and select the two checkboxes (I have prepared for my hard drives.. and I have access to the mapping file) for confirmation and click on Next.
3. The next page Select the drive file will get open. Here, click on Select drive file option and browse the location where exe is located. You will find the created journal file here.
4. Add this journal file and click on Validate to verify for any errors. Click on Next.
5. In the next page, click on Select mapping file option and add the Import mapping file (CSV) saved on the system location. Validate the mapping file and click on Save to create the PST Import Job.

Step5. Hard drive shipping to Microsoft

Microsoft will take about 10 days to upload the PST files to your Azure storage area after receiving the hard drive. In between users can carry out the following procedure.

1. Open Office 365. Go to Security & Compliance Center, select Data Governance and click on Import option.
2. Provide the details like shipment tracking number, return carrier account number, delivery carrier number and click on Save option.
3. Update this information by clicking on Refresh button.

Step6. Data Filters and Start Import

When the personnel from Microsoft have uploaded your PST files to Azure storage area, the status of job is changed to Analysis in progress. Once the status is updated to Analysis completed, perform these instructions.

1. In the Import page in Office 365, click on Ready to import to Office 365 against each job.
2. Filter your data page will ask you to either apply filters or import the whole data. Select any option.
3. Finally, start the import job by clicking on Import option. The process will take some time depending on the data to transfer.

Note: To view a list of the PST files uploaded to Microsoft Azure Storage area of the respective organization for confirmation of the success of the import procedure, users can utilize the in-built Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer tool by downloading it online free.

This method for importing PST files to Office 365 can be performed but surely the method is quite long and the user has to wait much (in days) for the hard drive shipment and uploading of data back. The Drive Shipping process is not free at all; rather it is an expensive procedure. In today’s busy world, this much waiting is not welcomed as it would take about 10 days for completion and yet there are great chances for manual errors due to the technical nature of the process. The users need instant results. For those users, we recommend our valuable PST Repair tool to import PST file to Office 365 which moves bulk of PST data to cloud within very less time and in much secure manner. With easy-to-understand features and simple GUI, the tool can be used by all type of users. Know more about this tool from the website and try its demo version for importing PST files.

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Summary

A well go-through in the Drive Shipping method to import PST files to Office with detailed instructions. At the same time, the method seems feasible and recommended to the users having time and not in urgency. For urgent requirement ones, the automated tool is suggested. Continue reading our blogs for more technical solutions.