Exchange Server Recovery

[kameta]

Hi, All
I have been given an Exchange server 5.5 which had crashed and had not been backed up. Somebody re-installed Exchange in a new hardsik, and I have found the old databases on another hard disk. How can I import them if they were not backed up in the normal tape method?

 

[chronos1]

hey there, if by database you mean the directory, then i don't think you can recover emails. But if you mean the priv.edb and pub.edb, then you could recover the the old emails.

Its a long process, but you'll need to probably build an identical exchange server offline - put the priv.edb and pub.edb in the mdbdata folder (you'll need to stop the services before doing this).

Run isinteg -patch from cmd prompt in the exchsrvr\bin folder.

If you get errors, run an soft recovery using
eseutil /r /ispriv
eseutil /r /ispub

then run isinteg -patch

If you still get errors, do a hard recovery using
eseutil /p /ispriv
eseutil /p /ispub

then run isinteg -patch

I've found once the hard recovery's done, the isinteg -patch should also work (make sure directory service is running), then try starting the info store service, make sure you've installed the up to date exchange service packs beforehand.

This took me about 2 days to do - but once done, should be able to stick all the emails you need into a pst and transfer them over to the new server.

Good luck, hope the info was useful.