Importance of exchange recovery and how to do it

It goes without saying that Microsoft’s email, calendaring, contact, scheduling and collaboration platform that goes by the name ‘Exchange server’ is widely popular owing primarily to organizational communication management utilities that it brings with it. The first exchange server version was 4.0 while its latest iteration is 2016, it is deployed on Microsoft Windows server operating systems for use within large organizations.

Quick Solution

EdbMails for EDB to PST Converter is an free tool to convert online & offline corrupt and healthy EDB Files to PST, Live Exchange and Office 365.

Enterprise IT administrators having experience managing exchange servers know very well that, although stable and streamlined for most parts, it is not without its issues. One such common issue that exchange administrators have to often deal with is the exchange database (.edb) file corruption. We shall see how to deal with this issue and flawlessly recover the exchange database with all of its data intact.

Exchange Database File (.edb)

Before moving on, first let’s have a look at what constitutes an exchange database file so as to understand why it’s important to have this article in first place. Exchange Database file (.edb) is a microsoft Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) database file used to store and manage multi-user email and associated data files in microsoft exchange servers. According to Microsoft, ESE is a ‘sophisticated, transaction-based database engine’. Prior to exchange 2007 there used to be two separate files namely .stm and .edb that acted as repository for all exchange server data. The .edb file contained metadata for mails and MAPI messages. Since then, EDB file was primarily used for storing MAPI data it was commonly referred to as MAPI database. The .stm file contained raw internet content in its native format thus avoiding unnecessary conversion to exchange format, it was known as the streaming database.

In more recent versions of Exchange server starting with exchange server 2007, however, the .stm file has been done away with and a single .edb file handles the former’s functionality as well, that is, storing internet content. According to Microsoft this change was aimed at reducing the overall I/O footprint of exchange server. Now that it’s amply clear what an exchange database consists of and what role it plays, it goes without saying how important it is to have the EDB data secured to prevent any loss of all-important mail server data.

EDB file corruption

Even though an exchange server has several inbuilt checks to ensure integrity of databases, EDB file is still prone to corruption. There can be several reasons for this which include but are not limited to – hardware failure (disk/sector damage), human error, malicious software attacks like malwares or viruses, improper or dirty shutdowns, server failure or other unforeseen unfortunate circumstances.

This susceptibility of .edb files to corruption makes it all the more difficult to manage properly for an exchange server administrator. Add to this the fact that .edb files can’t be viewed directly by ordinary means. Microsoft does provide Exchange Server Database Utility (Eseutil) – command line tool to try and recover the exchange database but if unintuitive powershell interface and slow recovery is not your thing, fret not – EdbMails edb to pst converter has got you covered.

EDB file Recovery

On face of it EdbMails may seem like a lightweight tool with a nice GUI, however, under hood it is a powerful all in one exchange recovery tool that supports Exchange recovery, OST recovery and Outlook PST recovery. There’s a free edb to pst converter version also available for your convenience so as to see it in action yourself before purchasing license. The free version is only limited by the number of items that can be exported (30 items from each and every folders of the mailbox). There is no size limitation in EdbMails and it can churn through any database, however large it is that you throw at it with ease.

Viewing an exchange database in EdbMails is as simple as opening the application and pointing it to the location of your offline exchange database file that is either stored locally or on a network location you have access to. EdbMails employs deep scanning techniques to ensure all data is recovered effortlessly from inaccessible database file. One can also convert EDB to PST using EdbMails and use this technique to break down large exchange databases into multiple PST files for easy backup and export to outlook. Another novel add-on that EdbMails provides is direct migration of exchange databases to Office 365 and live exchange server directly.

To conclude, an exchange database file is a vital component of any exchange server deployment that needs to be handled with care .The exchange database is prone to corruption from multiple sources despite best preventive measures taken beforehand, this is where need for exchange recovery comes. EdbMails is a tried and tested forensic exchange recovery tool that can help you deal exchange server corruption by steadfastly recovering all your data from within the corrupted EDB file.

Quick Solution

EdbMails for EDB to PST Converter is an free tool to convert online & offline corrupt and healthy EDB Files to PST, Live Exchange and Office 365.

Repair and recover Procedure of corrupt EDB files

Download the setup from the below link and install on any of your windows machine.
https://www.edbmails.com/pages/download.html
You use trial version and verify the data from the EDB file
Choose the EDB recovery option as show in the below screenshot.
Click the Continue, in the next screen browse the EDB file you wish to repair and recover the EDB file.
Once you select the EDB file and click the Continue button, application loads the all the mailboxes of the EDB file and displays in the tree view.
Now select the require mailbox/folder and right click to export the selected mailbox/folder to PST.
Click the “Export Selected Mailboxes / Folders to PST file” option to continue.
Click on “Export EDB to PST” as shown below
During export operation, the progress will be displayed as shown in the below screenshot.
Once the Export operation is completed, the message “Export operation has been completed.” You can now, open the exported PST file using Microsoft Outlook and verify the emails, Calendars, Contacts etc., items accordingly.