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Microsoft Exchange Server is essential for organizations to manage daily emails and other collaborative activities. All the Exchange mailboxes and items such as emails, contacts, calendars, and notes are stored in EDB file format. So, the EDB files are crucial for the functioning of the server.
The Exchange Administrator can create a new database in the Exchange Admin Center with some simple steps –
However, the Exchange database often gets corrupt due to various reasons like virus infections, hard drive failures, Exchange dirty shutdown errors, or system failures. The database corruption can damage your Exchange database and make mailboxes inaccessible. Therefore, repair the EDB file immediately or extract the Exchange database from the EDB file. You can use the command‘Run ESEUTIL’ for EDB Repair.
In this post, we will talk about the manual as well as automated approaches to extract Exchange mailbox data from EDB files. But, before that, let’s understand why you need to extract Exchange mailboxes from EDB files.
The above scenarios clearly state that extracting Exchange databases from EDB files is crucial. Below are some of the most effective methods to perform this task.
There are 3 manual methods to extract Exchange mailboxes from EDB files, and let’s dive deep into all of them:
Use the Exchange Admin Center to extract EDB files to PST, however, it supports only recent Exchange versions like Exchange Server 2013, 2016 and 2019. Follow the given steps to extract the EDB file using the Exchange admin center.
This completes the extraction of mailboxes to the desired location. Once the export process is complete, you’ll receive a confirmation message in the specified PST mailbox.
Drawbacks of using the Exchange Admin Center method to extract EDB files to PST:
Exchange Management Shell is another free method to extract Exchange mailboxes from EDB files in Exchange Server 2007 and later versions. EMS uses PowerShell cmdlets to convert EDB files to PST.
Here, we will discuss how to extract EDB files to PST in Exchange Server 2016.
Go to Exchange Management Shell and use the PowerShell cmdlet “New-MailboxExportRequest.” Use the below syntax for PowerShell cmdlets.
Here, enter the mailbox name you want to extract and enter the specific location where you want to extract the EDB file. For example,
Limitations of using Exchange Management Shell to extract EDB files to PST:
ExMerge, the Microsoft Exchange Server Mailbox Merge Wizard, extracts the mailbox data from one Exchange Server’s mailbox and merges it into another mailbox running on a different Exchange Server. It copies the data from the mailbox as a separate PST file and then merges it into another mailbox.
Use ExMerge function on both single and multiple mailboxes, and it is smart enough to filter the mailbox content by various criteria. The tool will check the folders for duplicate items and skip them.
Download the free tool from the following URL –
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=2743
The tool’s wizard-like interface shows multiple options on a single screen. Here is the process:
Limitations of using the ExMerge tool to extract Exchange mailbox data
Kernel for EDB to PST Converter, an automated utility proves to be significant in allowing users to extract Exchange data from EDB files to PST. Not only that, but using its fantastic features, users can extract EDB data to PST based on specific requirements. Now, let’s see how this tool works to understand its functionality better.
This way, you can easily extract EDB files to PST using smart converter software for Exchange database files.
Being prepared for the database disaster saves you from regretting later losing significant data. This article provided different methods for extracting EDB files to save from data loss in the Exchange Server database. Manual methods to do this have their limitations and require technical knowledge and experience. For such circumstances, trusting on Kernel for EDB to PST is a wise choice to migrate EDB mailboxes to Office 365.
By using Exchange Admin Center, one can easily extract the data from the EDB file and restore it live Exchange Server to access it. But if the user does not know the commands, it will be better to use a third party tool to extract the data from the EDB files and to use them as necessary.