How to recover Exchange data without log files?

Siddharth Shukla

Updated On - May 13, 2024

Exchange database stores a great number of user mailboxes which contain emails, contacts, calendar events, attachments, etc. Transaction log files play an essential role in the Exchange database. All the changes made to the databases are written in transaction log file first, and then it is written to the Exchange database. However, in some conditions, log files get damaged or deleted leading to Exchange data losses. Some common reasons behind corrupted Exchange log files are sudden termination of system (interrupted power supply), inconsistent database (dirty shutdown state), virus contamination, etc.

Ways to recover Exchange data without log files

There are two ways to retrieve the corrupted or lost log files in the Exchange database:

• Soft Recovery
• Hard Recovery

Soft recovery process automatically reads the checkpoint points when administrators try to remount a database. However, if it is not automatically mounted, you can perform software recovery using the Eseutil utility. Run the below-mentioned command in Eseutil:

There are some norms for replaying in transaction Log files which cause restriction:

• Checkpoints point to a wrong Log file.
• Database files from the storage group are removed.
• The path of the log file is changed.
• Log files are in different database.

In hard recovery process, you need to restore the backup ,which generates a file in the temporary folder with the name restore.env. Now, you must replay log files in restore.env against the Exchange database as below:

Here, you can see that C:\Program Files\ Exchsrvr \bin is the location of Eseutil and C:\Temp\First Storage Group is the location of the restore.env file. It shows the valid backup of database files.
If log files are damaged or missing, then it is impossible to recover the data. When your log files are damaged or missing, Exchange will display some errors like JET-Error -501 (0xfffffe0b), JET-Error -515 (0xfffffdfd), JET-Error -514 (0xfffffdfe), or JET-Error -533 (0xfffffdeb). Now, you need to apply the mentioned Eseutil command to repair the files.

Both soft and hard recovery may result in errors and some work only if log files are available. It may be difficult to recover data of lost files using these methods.

In such cases, we recommend the secure, efficient and advanced third-party tool, Recoveryfix for Exchange Server for quick and smooth data recovery. This software is exceptionally designed for repairing severely damaged Exchange database files. You can seamlessly save your retrieved data on Exchange Server or Office 365.

Let’s go through the working procedure of the Recoveryfix for the Exchange Server to recover Exchange data without Log files.

1. Download and install Recoveryfix for Exchange Server on your system. Double-click on the software exe to launch it. At the start screen, click on the Add Source icon.



2. Choose Offline EDB file as the source option and click Next.



3. Click … to browse and add the EDB file for recovery; click Next.



4. Next, choose the scanning mode and click Next.



5. The EDB file is scanned and repaired. Click Finish.



6. The EDB mailboxes will be retrieved successfully. You can preview the selected mailbox items. Right-click on the source mailbox and choose the desired option for exporting EDB data. Here, we are selecting Export mailboxes to PST.



Note: Select the desired file items and click the Add destination button. Choose the Create New PST option and click Next. Then, enter the destination location to save the PST file. Once the PST file is added, you can simply copy the data from the source to the destination.


7. Select the desired mailbox folders and apply filters and other options. Add the destination location and click Export. The migration process will be completed.


Hence, corrupted Exchange data is successfully repaired and recovered with this advanced tool.

Conclusion

Damaged or lost transaction log files often lead to the damage of Exchange data and recovering them becomes a tedious task with manual solutions like Soft and Hard Recovery. That’s why a full-proof automatic Exchange Server Recovery solution is recommended which facilitates the recovery of corrupted or lost database files effortlessly.