Today, we are going to review the application called Stellar Repair for Exchange. This application can serve as a companion application for all Exchange Admins. Now the question arises: if you have a perfectly running Exchange Server with daily full backups of the server and mailbox databases, why would you need a companion application? If something happens to the server, you will restore to the last healthy backup, and the problem will be solved.
Table of Contents
This application works best in the following situations:
No Updated Backup Available
When you restore to the last day backup, apart from any new mailboxes or changes, you will lose all the emails, files, and application changes from the last backup till the moment the disaster struck. Stellar Repair for Exchange helps restore all the mailboxes and other items from the database files without any data loss.
Need to Recover Accidently Deleted Mailboxes or AMailbox from Corrupt Database
If you’ve deleted a mailbox by mistake, you can easily recover it from the deleted mailboxes section. If you need to extract a mailbox from the corrupt database, you can either use the Exchange Admin Center (EAC) or the Exchange Management Shell (EMS). Again, the question comes up: why would you need Stellar Repair for Exchange? The reason being that the above methods work fine when the Exchange Server is working, and the databases are mounted. In case of a disaster, where you lost the server, or a database is damaged/not mounting, you will not be able to extract any data from the Exchange Server. Stellar Repair for Exchange is the tool you need in these sticky situations. It is a lifesaver when it comes to panic situations.
Now, let’s take a look at the application in detail.
Installation
The installation of the software is easy and quick as the installation files are only about 24MB. The installation will only take a few minutes with minor interventions. The installation of the application can be done on a Windows Server machine or a Windows 10 machine.
Software Working
Select EDB File
When you launch the software, you will be asked to specify the EDB file you want to repair. If you have several mailbox databases and donat know the path, you can use the find button. The application will automatically search for any EDB files in your drives.
Note: It is important to know that this application can open EDB files of any Exchange Server version – from 2007 till 2019.
Scan EDB File
Once the EDB file is selected, you can select the scan mode depending on the corruption in your databases. You can run a quick scan if you are exporting from a restored EDB or slight corruption in the file. If your files are damaged or severely corrupt, you can use the Extensive Scan. The scan process will take some time to finish, depending on the size of the mailbox.
The application also provides an option to save scan information of the scanned file. You can resume the process later without the need to re-scan the EDBfile.
Preview Mailbox Data
Once the scan is complete, you will be presented with the EDB file contents, including all the mailbox data and all the system and hidden folders.
You will be able to browse the structure of the mailboxes and the databases you open, along with components like calendar, tasks, contact, and journal from the buttons at the bottom left area.
The interface is very similar to Microsoft Outlook, and the best part is that almost all the functionalities are available on one screen.
In the middle pane, you can see the contents of a particular folder. It also allows searching in-line on the screen. It will search real-time while you type in the header of your choice -From, To, Subject, and Date.
The right pane is the preview pane which shows the email content in HTML form, with attachments and embedded images.
Export Data
This will also allow you to export the respective email to EML and other formats.
The application also excels in the export mechanism, which is fast and effective. You can export granularly from EDB files to PST and other file formats. You can also directly export any Public Folder with minimum effort.
Export Data to Live Exchange or Office 365
The application can export directly to a live Exchange Server mailbox database. You can also export directly to an Office 365 tenant. This way, the application serves as a migration tool as well.
Parallel Processing for Faster Mailbox Recovery
The latest version of the software features parallel processing for fast recovery of mailboxes. It can process 4 mailboxes at a time. The feature requires only 4GB of memory as a minimum and can only be used when exporting directly to a live Exchange Server database, Office 365 tenant, or PST.
Prioritize Mailbox Recovery
You can also prioritize the recovery of mailboxes. You can set or change the priority of user mailboxes, which will be exported first in the queue.
Resume Mailbox Recovery
If something happens while recovering the data, you would not need to restart the process to resume the recovery process easily. There could be many reasons due to which the recovery could be interrupted. This option is very much welcome as you would not need to clean off and restart the recovery.
Final Thoughts
Stellar Repair for Exchange is one of the best Exchange Server Recovery applications to have in your arsenal. It will surely get you out of any sticky situation, with minimum impact on the business and no data loss.