An EDB file stores all the mailboxes and their contents in an Exchange database. In terms of engaging with others within an organization and outside it, it forms the communication backbone. It is crucial for an efficient and scalable management of data.
Considering its importance in the proper functioning of your organization, its proper monitoring is essential. A slight lapse can lead to database corruption, which can cause significant data loss, an inaccessible database, and an unavoidable downtime. All this contributes to the loss of your company’s reputation.
Therefore, it is wise to take precautionary measures to avoid database corruption. However, if you can’t stop corruption in your database, you should be quick to implement efficient repair methods. In this blog, we will discuss the method to repair a corrupt database in Exchange 2019 using the Eseutil utility. Later, we will also talk about the use of a professional exchange recovery tool, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange, for this purpose.
How does an Exchange database become corrupt?
Several hardware or software-related conflicts make the data inconsistent, resulting in database corruption. Here are the prominent issues:
- Power failure: A power outage or an improper system shutdown affects the write options, causing the database become inconsistent
- Lack of storage space: When the hard drive containing the database runs out of space, it fails to write new data, causing corruption
- Hardware issues: Several hardware conflicts, such as defective RAM (Memory), bad sectors in the hard drive, malfunctioning disk controllers, and system crashes, can lead to a damaged EDB file
- Improper Antivirus configuration: Scanning of an EDB file by an antivirus while it is in use can lock it and render it inaccessible
- System issues: Several bugs arising in the Exchange server during Windows updates or due to an incompatible third-party tool
- Corrupt log files: Inability of deleted, missing, or corrupted transaction logs to commit pending transactions
- Malware attack: Lack of proper system protection can cause malware intrusion and damage the EDB files.
How to find out if an Exchange database has become corrupt?
To verify corruption in an Exchange 2019 database, you can use the Eseutil utility. It is available in the installation directory of Exchange Server. The steps are as follows:
- Press Windows Key+R to open the Run dialog box
- Type CMD to open the command prompt
- Open Exchange Management Shell and navigate to the Exchange installation folder
- Run the command: Eseutil /mh <Path of your database file> to check the existing status of the database
- If the result shows a clean shutdown, your database is corruption-free, consistent, and good to work on
- If the result fetches a Dirty Shutdown status, your database is inconsistent and corrupted because of corrupted or missing transaction log files.
Things to consider before repairing a corrupt database
Here are the major prerequisites to take care of before proceeding with the Exchange database repair:
- Log in with administrator credentials to ensure you have all the requisite permissions
- Before starting the repair, take a complete backup of the corrupt database to avert data loss
- Use the dismount-database command to dismount the database from the server before initiating the repair
- Ensure to have free storage space, around 1.2 times more than your database size
Repairing a corrupt database in Exchange 2019 through Eseutil
Exchange Server Database Utility, or Eseutil.exe, is a built-in command utility, effective in repairing a corrupt EDB file. It can perform both soft recovery and hard recovery. Here is how you can use it to repair the Exchange database:
- Locate ESEUTIL
Explore the Exchange Server installation directory in your system and navigate to the Bin folder. The default location in Exchange 2019 is C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin.
- Check the database status
Run the following command: Eseutil /mh < Path of your database file > to get the current status of your Exchange database.
- In case of a clean shutdown, remount the database by using the command below: Mount-Database -Identity “<Name of Your Database>”
- If the status is a Dirty Shutdown, start with soft recovery
- Perform soft recovery
Eseutil /r <LogPrefix> /l “log file location” /d “Path of your database file”
e.g., Eseutil /r E04 /l “M:\mbx007\logs” /d “M:\mbx007\mbx007.edb”
If this succeeds in recovering the database, remount it. If it still shows a Dirty Shutdown, proceed to the next step.
- Perform hard recovery
A Dirty Shutdown happens mostly because of missing log files, which makes corruption even more destructive. Performing a hard recovery can repair the damaged database, but in the process, it deletes the bad sectors to remove unrecoverable items, which may contain your important data. Therefore, admins use this recovery method as a last resort, when none of the steps works to repair a corrupt Exchange database. Here is the command:
Eseutil /p < Path of your database file >
- Check database integrity
- To determine the database integrity, the foremost step is to defrag the database. Here is the command for the same: Eseutil /d < Path of your database file >
- Next step is to check integrity by using the following command: Eseutil /g <database file path>
- If you find logical errors, run the mailbox repair commands to fix them by using the following command: New-MailboxRepairRequest -Database “<Name of Your Database>”
- Once the repair process succeeds, remount the database by using the command: Mount-Database -Identity “<Name of Your Database>”
Challenges encountered during Eseutil Repair
When repairing the corrupt database using the Eseutil command, you are likely to face several challenges:
- Eseutil repair takes excessive time consumption depending on the size of the database
- Hard recovery poses a severe threat to the loss of data
- You must have perspicacious knowledge about the ingrained technical concept before performing the repair
As a suitable alternative, you may switch over to a professional exchange recovery tool
Using Stellar Repair for Exchange to repair a corrupt database in Exchange 2019
The renowned professional exchange recovery tool comprises advanced features to repair and recover a damaged Exchange database. Specifically, it works proactively in dealing with Dirty Shutdown, Jet Exchange errors, or logical damage. These issues find limited resolution through built-in utilities like Eseutil, EAC, or PowerShell. Here are the prominent features of this software:
- Recovers deleted Exchange mailboxes
- Performs eDiscovery and granular recovery
- Faster recovery through the parallel processing technique
- Converts EDB files to multiple formats, including EML, MSG, RTF, PDF, or HTML
- Fixes Exchange database mounting issues that make the databases inconsistent
- Option to set mailbox priority before mailbox export to PST, Live Exchange, or Office 365
- Enhanced preview of the mailbox and mail items after database repair
Using the software is easy; you simply need to follow a few simple steps. For detailed assistance, you may refer to the Installation Guide and User Manual from the official Stellar Info website. At present, the Corporate, Technician, and Toolkit editions of the professional exchange recovery tool are up for purchase. You may select the one according to your requirements. Besides, the free trial version of the software is also available for free download if you wish to only scan and preview your recoverable mailboxes.
Conclusion
Quick repair of an Exchange Server 2019 database becomes crucial to ensure data consistency. It is equally essential in retaining the market reputation and credibility of your organization. To resolve the issue, you can try using the built-in Eseutil utility. However, this method may not fix the error completely, which makes it essential to keep your Exchange database safe and secure from corruption.
Still, if the corruption becomes inevitable, the repair through Eseutil becomes unavoidable, even though it leads to considerable time consumption and data loss. One concrete resolution to avert such challenges is to use a professional exchange recovery tool, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange.
The software is quick to repair your Exchange 2019 database without causing any damage or loss of data. It comes loaded with features in its multiple editions, enabling you to choose the best one according to your requirements. Contact the Stellar Info website today to buy Stellar Repair for Exchange. You may also opt for the free version of this professional exchange recovery tool.
