asked on 12/5/2018

Best method of restoring Exchange Database

Last night our SBS 2011 server (with Exchange 2010) had a RAID failure. Would not boot but I could run repair / command prompt and actually copy all of the data to an external drive. RAID drive status is "uninitialized".

I setup a new SBS server and recreated the 20 or so user mailboxes. The users are back to receiving and sending email on their phones. Outlook clients are the next thing to look at...

I have the entire Mailbox Database folder on an external hard drive. Is there someway that I can dismount the Exchange Store; empty the mailbox Database folder; copy everything from the external drive and mount the Store again?

I also have multiple Server Backups but they are from 11/30 and before.

Exchange SBS RAID Storage

Last Comment

Mahesh

12/6/2018

Mahesh

12/5/2018

you already have created new mailbox database on new server

Copy existing database on new server with logs
check database if it in clean state, if not soft repair it and get it in clean shutdown state
Now rename that database to same name as new one

Dismount the new database, and replace new database file with old one and mount database again

steps to repair database
https://megabite.nl/kb/using-eseutil-to-recover-and-repair-exchange-databases/

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Saif Shaikh

12/6/2018

THIS SOLUTION IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.

View this solution by signing up for a free trial.

Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.

See Pricing Options

Start Free Trial

Saif Shaikh

12/6/2018

I missed one point after point number 7. You need to mount the RDB database after point number 7 so that RDB database has all new emails for merge process.

Mahesh

12/6/2018

Don't you think that after you copy database from external drives to actual production location, you need to rename edb file to one defined with new database name

Saif Shaikh

12/6/2018

The one which was copied might have the same name i.e. "Mailbox Database" and the blank mount one also has the same name i.e. "Mailbox Database", so i don't think a rename is required.

But yes if he is bringing the database from any other server from a different "ORG", then forget about rename it will not work at all.

Database has to be of the same "ORG" and if he has dismounted and copied the original database i.e. "Mailbox Database" , then the same is copied back to original location, there is no renaming required.

But yes we need to make sure that the database is in clean shutdown state by running "eseutil /mh "D:\program file\exchangedatabase\Mailbox Database.edb". If it is then we need to remove any existing log files and mount it in production.

Mahesh

12/6/2018

The one which was copied might have the same name i.e. "Mailbox Database" and the blank mount one also has the same name i.e. "Mailbox Database", so i don't think a rename is required.

That is assumption but that is important point and need to be call out explicitly and database clean shutdown point also need to be mentioned as it is also equally important

@OP:
with my suggestion, you will get your old emails back, with recovery storage group you will get old and new both emails..so you should go with Shaikh's suggestion
I missed RSG point...since you have only 20 mailboxes. But it should not be ignored