MS Exchange Repair Tool to repair corrupted or damaged edb file

The main repository of mailbox data in Exchange Server is the .edb file that is primarily composed of b-trees. Since a b-tree is allowed to have a considerable depth, b-trees deploy indexes to permit quick data access. In Exchange EDB, there are few ancillary trees that hold table indexes to work with the main tree. If these indexes go corrupted, the entire table and sometimes, the whole database become unusable. This is what we refer as logical database corruption. In critical situations, when this type of corruption is not limited to index page corruption, you need to implement Exchange Server Repair solutions.

To understand such potential problems with Exchange database further, consider the discussed scenario and error. When using Exchange Server 2007, you can encounter event 467 logging in the application log. Additionally, on viewing the description section of the same event, you receive an error that reads similar to below:

Information Store (number) Index [index name] of table [table name] is corrupted.

This error typically indicates a corrupted index in the Exchange store. As symptoms, you might observe access violations and repeated crashes. Also, this type of corruption might go undetected for long without any symptoms. Even the Exchange-aware backup may fail to detect this corruption. Event 467 suggests logical corruption at Database (JET database engine) level and is exhibited when JET engine touches this location in the database while reporting it as event 447. For specific root causes, one needs to view the application and system log cautiously as these errors can damage your data badly.

Solution

Following suggestions can help you isolate the depicted problem:

1. If corruption is limited to index leaf pages and not with the database pages, running Eseutil /d (offline defragmentation) alone can perform Exchange Server Repair.

2. In critical problems, you may need to use ExMerge utility to move the mailboxes to a new, blank Information Store.

3. The Exchange Server might be affected from page or database level corruption together with index page corruption. In such cases, you can execute Eseutil /p and then Isinteg -fix commands as Eseutil /d command may not work. You can further use ExMerge tool to put the database again in use.

4. To avoid data loss problems due to Eseutil /p utility, it is however, recommended to opt for a safe third-party Exchange Repair utility.

The Exchange Repair is a professional utility that repairs corrupted Exchange EDB file and restores the mailboxes in separate *.pst files. The Exchange Server Repair product is easy to use with its self-explanatory interface. Designed for Exchange Server 5.5, 2000, 2003, and 2007, the tool is also competent to recover deleted mailboxes.

When you perform operations like an online backup or defragmentation, the system reads each database page for writing or other processes. To do so, it first undergoes checksum test and check if it is correct. For any reason, if the page checksum mismatch with that has been calculated by database engine, it reports an error and the operation is halted. Such errors usually root from physical database corruption and compel you to restore the database from backup or apply some Exchange Repair measures to fix database corruption.

As an example of such problems, with Exchange Server 2007, you might exhibit the following symptoms:

1. The client computer cannot start Microsoft Outlook

2. Users fail to send/receive e-mails

3. Online backups and defragmentation fail with a -1018 checksum mismatch error

4. The application event log in Exchange Server reports an error as below:

“Database recovery and restore failed with an unexpected error.”

Cause

The above symptoms suggest that Exchange Server has failed to read database page due to checksum mismatch and the page is corrupt. However, the same issues can also occur due to firmware malfunction or problem in RAM. For the specific reason, you are suggested to view error code that is listed in the event description.

Solution

You need to apply these measures to solve the given problem:

1. If the error listed in event description is -515, the transaction log file(s) might be missing. Determine the missing logs and move them back to the log directory and/or restore the database from backup.

2. Check the system for hardware issues and solve them or migrate to a different hardware

3. Consider upgrading the BIOS and firmware

4. Perform Exchange Server Repair with eseutil /P command, followed by eseutil /D and isinteg -fix. Make sure you backup the database first as running this repair can cause important database pages to delete.

For safer MS Exchange Repair, consider using solutions like an Exchange Server recovery software. These commercial applications are built with advanced technology to run effective scan for a corrupted database and extract the valuable data out of it.

Exchange Repair Software is a professional utility that repairs corrupted Exchange Server databases. The Exchange Server Repair tool recovers all the mailboxes in individual *.pst files and also allows to select them as required. The tool supports Exchange Server 5.5, 2000, 2003, and 2007. The software can also recover deleted mailboxes.

For the reason that Microsoft Exchange Server mainly acts as a mailbox server, backing up the database regularly is the key to deal with disaster recovery needs. Microsoft recommends using an Exchange-aware backup utility such as Windows Server 2003 backup or any third-party application. These utilities require access of .pat file (discussed in ’cause’ section) and Exchange Server to be free from any hardware-related errors to successfully backup the database. At times, these hardware-related concerns also bring corruption to the database, which makes it obligatory either to restore from the last backup or perform Exchange Server Repair to repair EDB file of MS Exchange Server.

To apprehend such situations better, consider a scenario when you try to perform an Exchange-aware backup of the Exchange database. But due to some causes, the operation fails and you get an error message mentioned below:

“An error occurred during backup of an Exchange store database – the cause and resolution for the online backup failure depends on the error listed in the Description of the event.”

This error is generated by ESE (Extensible Storage Engine) and is associated with event ID 217. The error statement further mentions another error in its description section that actually determines the root cause of failure.

Cause

General reasons causing the above behavior to occur are:

• ESE cannot access the database .pat file exclusively. Exchange Server uses this file while backup is running to keep a record of updated pages, separately for both private and public stores. This is the patch file that ensures backing up of pages modified while backup is running.

• If the description section of error reports -1018 error, this might be because of some hardware-related issues.

• In case of description section mentioning -613 error, the cause could be checksum error in .stm (SLV) file. Another possibility is some hardware-related concerns.

Solution

You need to apply these measures to solve the described problem:

• Another program might be accessing the .pat file, so either stop the software or wait till it finishes.

• In case of -1018 error, find and solve the issue behind and restore the database from the last online backup if available. If you are using Enterprise edition, you can also use Exmerge. In other cases, you can perform EDB Repair using eseutil /p, followed by isinteg -fix commands, but the data loss is likely.

• Follow the same steps as for -1018 error in case of -613 error. You need to repair .stm file along with the associated .edb file.

Since eseutil /p causes database pages to delete, it is more suggested to opt for third-party Exchange Server Repair utilities.

MS Exchange Repair Software is an advanced and reliable tool that repairs Exchange databases and restores the mailboxes as *.pst file. The Exchange Repair tool supports MS Exchange Server 5.5, 2000, and 2003. The software is valid to use in each instance of database corruption with an interactive design and look .

A dirty shutdown in Microsoft Exchange Server generally leaves your Information Store in inconsistent state. This occurs when the Information Store(s) have not been closed properly, generally because of power outage or power surges. In most of such cases, you cannot mount the EDB databases. The dirty shutdown doesn’t always indicate the database corruption, but the fact that the database files have not been detached from the log files’ stream in a proper fashion. The automatic recovery procedure starts the next time when you start the Exchange Server. But if the procedure fails, you need to recover the database files manually. This can be done either by using Exchange Server built-in repair utilities or with the aid of Exchange Repair tools.

For example, consider a situation when you experience dirty shutdown with your Exchange Server. The next time when you start the server, it displays the following error:

“JET_errDatabaseCorruptedNoRepair -1224”

The database might be inaccessible.

Cause

The error indicates that the database is corrupted but for some reasons, repair is not allowed.

Solution

You can try implementing the following measures to solve the given problem:

1. Check if an online backup is available that can be used to restore the database.

2. If no backup is present, you can repair the database manually using eseutil tool as follows:

a) Run eseutil /mh command to check the database file header

b) If the above command reports ‘Dirty Shutdown’ state, make sure that all the present transaction log files from the checkpoint forward are present. If not, you can run eseutil /p, command to make the database consistent.

c) After this, you should run eseutil /d command to defragment the database. This discards and later rebuilds the indexes and space of the Exchange databases.

Running eseutil /p command can cause catastrophic data loss, so you are suggested to opt for safer database recovery solutions. There are several EDB Repair Software available that use effective and safe scanning algorithms to analyze and repair corrupted Exchange databases. The MS Exchange Repair applications are easy to install and use with no prior requirement of having any technical knowledge.

This Exchange Repair Software is a powerful and user-friendly tool that repairs corrupted Exchange Server databases and extracts the mailboxes in individual *.pst files. The Exchange Server Repair Software supports MS Exchange Server 5.5, 2000, and 2003. It is a feature-rich utility that is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000.

Exchange Server mailbox store is composed of user mailboxes and system mailboxes. Each mailbox store is made of two files : Priv.edb and Priv.stm. When a disaster occurs to any mailbox store, the EDB file is considered to be the most vital component of recovery, for the reason that it contains all email messages, headers and text attachments of users’ email messages. There are various Exchange Server Repair software available that can repair a corrupted Exchange database, in case when you don’t have any valid database backup to restore.

For instance, consider a scenario when you try to mount your Exchange Server mailbox store. The mount operation might fail logging the events 9175 and 455 in application event log.

Cause

There can several possible reasons that can cause the described issue:

1. An antivirus software is running that has deleted the Exchange log files

2. You have performed soft recovery for database using eseutil /r with incorrect logfile base name

3. Mailbox store is corrupted

Solution

To solve this issue, you need to try these fixes:

1. You should ensure that antivirus software doesn’t scan Exchange Server directories. It can even corrupt the database files. If the log files have been deleted, you should restore the database from backup and play through the log files. In case when no good backup is available, you need to run Exchange repair utilities for bringing the database to consistent state.

2. You need to perform soft recovery using correct log file base name, such as e00, e01, e02 or e03 .

3. If the entire mailbox store is corrupted, you should run Eseutil /r to repair it or restore from backup. However, you can also run Eseutil /p as hard recovery operation, but this causes the dirty pages to delete. So, it is recommended to use commercial Exchange Server Repair tools that can safely repair a corrupted Exchange database.

Exchange Repair software are powerful tools that use exclusive repair algorithms, while providing graphically rich user interface.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is a fully-featured and non-destructive tool to perform systematic repair of damaged Exchange databases created with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a complete Exchange Repair tool that extracts all user mailboxes by converting them into individual Outlook usable .pst files. The tool can recover all email messages, notes, journals, tasks and other objects.

Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Merge tool or Exmerge.exe allows you to extract mailboxes’ data from an Exchange running computer and then merge it into same mailboxes stored on a different computer running Exchange Server. The tool copies the required data from the root server into .pst files and then merges it in the personal folders into mailboxes stored on the target server. At times, you cannot open the .pst files after using Exmerge.exe to extract the data to another Exchange Server database. This can occur due to incompatibility issues, new format of Outlook for PST, incorrect .pst file privileges or database corruption. As a result, the database becomes corrupt and you need Exchange Repair solution.

For example, when you try to run Exmerge.exe to move data from an Exchange Server computer to another, you may receive the below error for various users:

“Error configuring message service (MSPST MS) (MAPI_E_EXTENDED_ERROR) (CmapiSession::CreateEMSPSTProfile).

Error opening message store (MSEMS). Verify that the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is running and that you have the correct permissions to log on. (0×8004011d).”

You cannot open the related .pst files.

Cause

The Exchange database is corrupted due to incomplete or improper merge operation. This can also occur due to insufficient .pst file permissions.

The database corruption can also result because of unexpected shutdown and virus issues.

Solution

You should make sure that you use the latest version of Exmerge utility and the .pst files are not marked as read-only. For removing the read-only attribute from .pst file, you need to click its Properties and clear the associated check box.

To restore the lost data for damaged database, you need to use your last backup. If this is absent or seems to be invalid, you need a third-party mailbox extraction tool. Termed as Exchange Repair software, these tools can repair and rebuild a corrupted Exchange database well while maintaining its integrity.

The Exchange Repair Software is highly competent to extract database mailboxes by using powerful scanning algorithms. Also, these tools are easy-to-use products with a graphically rich user interface.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is an advanced and non-destructive utility that employs powerful scanning algorithms to repair a damaged Exchange Server database. It is compatible with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a comprehensive Exchange Server Repair solution with impressive set of features and options. The tool extracts user mailboxes in individual .pst file format files.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 offers new features, more reliability and easier administration over its earlier counterparts. SP2 is a cumulative update that improves the Exchange messaging environment by including improvements in mobile messaging, mailbox and protection against spam. Before you upgrade your servers to Exchange Server SP2, it is recommended that you make complete backup of system state, file system and most importantly, Exchange databases. This assures of data availability in case the installation goes wrong in any way. But cases occur when your Exchange databases get corrupt when no clean backup is present. In such situations, you should use a powerful Exchange Server Repair product that can use safe scanning algorithms to repair a corrupted Exchange database.

For instance, you can consider a scenario describes below:

1. You run Exchange Server 2003 SP1 or an earlier version
2. You decide to upgrade to Exchange Server 2003 SP2. During the installation of SP2, the setup failed to stop ExIFS (Exchange Installable File System) service but continues with no notice
3. After this, when you try to mount Information Store, it fails and events 470, 9519, 9518 and 104 are logged in the application log.

Cause

The above symtoms suggest that Exchange database may have got corrupted due to installation of SP2. It can also occur if an antivirus software is scanning the Exchange databases.

Solution

Before making any database restoration attempts, you should make sure that Exchange databases are excluded from any antivirus scanning. If databases appear as corrupted, you should consider these suggestions:

1. Try repairing the corrupted database by running eseutil /r command
2. If it fails, restore the database from the last backup you have
3. When no clean backup is available, you should use a Exchange Repair software.

Exchange Server Repair products are highly competent utilities with powerful scanning algorithms to repair a corrupted Exchange database. These software are infallible solutions to any issue of database inconsistencies. Equipped with graphically rich interface and options, such software provide guide you through easy to implement procedure of repairing the database.

Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Recovery is an advanced and safe Exchange Repair utility that employs powerful scanning algorithms to repair a damaged Exchange Server database. It is compatible with Exchange Server 5.5, 2000 and 2003. It is a safe Exchange Server Repairutility with impressive set of features. The tool extracts user mailboxes in individual .pst file format files.