Exchange 2007 - .edb restore

Having took the advice of a rather large company, in doing so, I seem to have lost my mailbox. In an ideal world this wouldn't be an issue but with Symantec BE not working to it's full potential I cannot simply restore the mailbox through that. I see that it's possible to restore from an .edb file? Is this the case and if so is it a pain in the backside to do?

It mentions needing the .log files. The last backup I have of the .edb file I can use is Thursday which isn't too much of an issue for me but I only have the log files for that day on this backup as they're backed up, then cleared. I'd probably be struggling to go through all the backup media to find all the logs. Will it need the log files from day 1?

How long ago was it deleted, you may be able to recover it from the database:
Undelete Exchange mailboxes : TechGuides : Software/Web Development : ZDNet Asia
Blu3yyTech: How to undelete a removed mailbox - Exchange 2007

In terms of a restore you want to use a Recovery storage group and mount the old DB in there to get a hold of the mailbox:
How to Recover a Mailbox by Using a Recovery Storage Group: Exchange 2007 Help

You will need the backed up EDB file and any log files that were also backed up at that time. When a backup is completed the log files are commited so they only exist since the last backup. You should only need what is included in the backup as this will contain the full dataset at that time.

It's not in the disconnected mailboxes, I looked.

I'm kinda less worried if it's possible to restore from the .edb and the log files that were there at the time. I did read a few articles but wasn't sure which log files would be needed.

Thanks.

Have you tried using Ontrack PowerControls

No? I looked but that looked like it was going to cost big time.

Any chance you can explain exactly how you managed to delete your mailbox we may be able to help you further if we have the full picture?

Deleting the account from the RMMC/AD also deletes it from Exchange, I didn't take this into account at the time (stupid!) and just followed the advice I was given. Now I need to restore it if possible.

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Originally Posted by Edu-IT

Deleting the account from the RMMC/AD also deletes it from Exchange, I didn't take this into account at the time (stupid!) and just followed the advice I was given. Now I need to restore it if possible.

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Hiya,

When did you delete the account? i think the default configuration is 14 days i.e. you have 14 days or so to recover the mailbox. It may take some time to show up in disconnected mailbox. To force it it show carry out the below:

Open up a powershell and type in the following command.

Clean-MailboxDatabase "Database name" you may have to specify the full path to the database i.e. first storage group\<mailbox database name>

Give it a go and see if it shows up in disconnected mailbox. If it still doesn't show then try restarting the exchange mailbox assistance service. You will have to close the EMC and then reopen it after carrying out the above procedure.

HTH,

Ash.

I recreated the mailbox manually though since so I guess that is no longer an option?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Edu-IT

I recreated the mailbox manually though since so I guess that is no longer an option?

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It should be still possible to attach or reconnect the mailbox to another user so i guess you can create another user with the same info in RMMC with obvioulsy a different username and see if you can attach the disconnected mailbox to the new acccount.

If this works then you can move the important message to your new mailbox by dragging the emails, contacts, calendar entries etc to the new one.

Worth a try.

Ash.

I've done this mistake before, deleted some accounts from Exchange (2007) and it deleted it from AD, all I did was re-create the account and re-connect the mailboxes to that account and worked

If that works then yay! Will test it tomorrow.

Wow that was a bit too easy. Thanks guys!