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Exchange Server random problem

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  • gareth886 8 Jan 2009 11:20:40 2,829 posts
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    I've just had a user approach me this morning and tell me that she has lost a load of emails (4 months worth) from her Inbox. I asked her if she might have Deleted them by mistake and she said that she didn't think so.

    I checked her deleted items and they weren't there + I also explored the "Recover Deleted Items" option in Outlook. There were 100s of deleted emails in there but she said that those were definitely ones that she wanted to delete. No sign of the missing ones from her inbox.

    She has been through every folder in her outlook but there is no sign of them. Exchange hasn't reported any errors, either on the client machine or the server. Also, the only folder that seems to be affected is the Inbox, every other folder is fine.

    Does anyone have any idea what could have happened?
  • Nasty 8 Jan 2009 11:25:06 4,640 posts
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    Auto Archive? Either removed or moved to a PST. Tell her Exchange is not an email archiving system anyway and if she wanted to keep large amounts of shit it should have been in a encrypted backed up pst anyway.

    Use Exchange RSG to pull the stuff from the last backup.

    Buy commvault or use a mx host who can do a granular restore if you need quick recovery.
  • jonsaan 8 Jan 2009 11:35:37 24,368 posts
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    Are you sure they haven't dragged them to the toppermost folder: mailbox, lastname,firstname.

    In later versions of Outlook this is now masked by a little homepage. Right click the folder, turn off the homepage and you'll see any mails that have been put there. Happens quite often by mistake round these parts.

    FCUTA!

  • JetSetWilly 8 Jan 2009 11:40:14 5,720 posts
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    We had a problem recently where bad disk sectors were affecting only certain users Exchange mailboxes, though I'm not entirely sure if the symptom was large amounts of missing data.
  • X201 8 Jan 2009 11:48:45 13,418 posts
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    Nasty wrote:
    Auto Archive? Either removed or moved to a PST. Tell her Exchange is not an email archiving system anyway and if she wanted to keep large amounts of shit it should have been in a encrypted backed up pst anyway.

    Use Exchange RSG to pull the stuff from the last backup.

    Buy commvault or use a mx host who can do a granular restore if you need quick recovery.

    What he said.

    + configure Exchange to send mailbox size warnings, and if needs be set it to lock mailboxes as well when the size quota is breached, most users tend to learn after the first email/lockout :)

  • gareth886 8 Jan 2009 11:49:50 2,829 posts
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    Her Mailbox is showing as having around 2000 items in it, all of which can be accounted for. So the missing emails seem to be gone from her Mailbox altogether. I've also checked the archive folder but they haven't been moved to there either.

    Its a real mind fuck.
  • X201 8 Jan 2009 11:52:12 13,418 posts
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    Search her machine/user folders for any PST/OST files then check the dates on them just to exclude that as a possibility.
  • gareth886 8 Jan 2009 11:52:41 2,829 posts
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    Can you recover Individual Mailboxes from the Exchange backup?
  • nickthegun 8 Jan 2009 11:54:18 45,269 posts
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    I am 99% certain this is something she has done, rather than it being an exchange problem.

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    AGP.SRPT

  • X201 8 Jan 2009 11:55:08 13,418 posts
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    nickthegun wrote:
    I am 99% certain this is something she has done, rather than it being an exchange problem.
    Ah, SUE

    Stupid User Error

    :)

  • Nasty 8 Jan 2009 11:57:08 4,640 posts
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    Exchange Recovery Storage Group

    Recover the store and exmerge the users mailbox to a pst. mount that on their machine and recover the mails in to her mailbox.

    If you're on Exchange 2000 though, you're humped.
    X201 wrote:
    nickthegun wrote:
    I am 99% certain this is something she has done, rather than it being an exchange problem.
    Ah, SUE

    Stupid User Error

    :)
    Problem with the DFU ;)
  • jonsaan 8 Jan 2009 12:10:44 24,368 posts
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    I would suggest you look where I said before you go restoring anything..

    FCUTA!

  • jonsaan 8 Jan 2009 12:11:16 24,368 posts
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    gareth886 wrote:
    Her Mailbox is showing as having around 2000 items in it, all of which can be accounted for. So the missing emails seem to be gone from her Mailbox altogether. I've also checked the archive folder but they haven't been moved to there either.

    Its a real mind fuck.
    Helooo. Did you read my post?

    FCUTA!

  • X201 8 Jan 2009 12:17:02 13,418 posts
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    gareth886 wrote:
    Can you recover Individual Mailboxes from the Exchange backup?
    Exchange's own backup is only really any good for a mass restore.

    You'll need something specifically designed for the job to backup/restore individual accounts.

  • Nasty 8 Jan 2009 12:57:55 4,640 posts
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    X201 wrote:
    gareth886 wrote:
    Can you recover Individual Mailboxes from the Exchange backup?
    Exchange's own backup is only really any good for a mass restore.

    You'll need something specifically designed for the job to backup/restore individual accounts.
    Exchange Recovery Storage Group does exactly that. Mass restore the Exchange backup to the Recovery STorage Group and then do what you want from there with it; restore individual mail or entire mailboxes etc.
  • silentbob 8 Jan 2009 13:00:26 28,799 posts
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    Nasty wrote:
    X201 wrote:
    gareth886 wrote:
    Can you recover Individual Mailboxes from the Exchange backup?
    Exchange's own backup is only really any good for a mass restore.

    You'll need something specifically designed for the job to backup/restore individual accounts.
    Exchange Recovery Storage Group does exactly that. Mass restore the Exchange backup to the Recovery STorage Group and then do what you want from there with it; restore individual mail or entire mailboxes etc.
    The other option is to do a brick level backup of the store. However, this is awfully slow due to MS being shit. It does however allow individual mails to be restored so there is some argument for doing it sporadically.

    You'd also need a specific backup agent and server to do the work.

    VR Guff: www.roadtovr.com (NEW site now live!)

  • silentbob 8 Jan 2009 13:04:17 28,799 posts
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    Nasty wrote:
    X201 wrote:
    gareth886 wrote:
    Can you recover Individual Mailboxes from the Exchange backup?
    Exchange's own backup is only really any good for a mass restore.

    You'll need something specifically designed for the job to backup/restore individual accounts.
    Exchange Recovery Storage Group does exactly that. Mass restore the Exchange backup to the Recovery STorage Group and then do what you want from there with it; restore individual mail or entire mailboxes etc.
    This also relies on you having enough local storage to do a full store restore.

    VR Guff: www.roadtovr.com (NEW site now live!)

  • Nasty 8 Jan 2009 13:08:41 4,640 posts
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    silentbob wrote:
    Nasty wrote:
    X201 wrote:
    gareth886 wrote:
    Can you recover Individual Mailboxes from the Exchange backup?
    Exchange's own backup is only really any good for a mass restore.

    You'll need something specifically designed for the job to backup/restore individual accounts.
    Exchange Recovery Storage Group does exactly that. Mass restore the Exchange backup to the Recovery STorage Group and then do what you want from there with it; restore individual mail or entire mailboxes etc.
    This also relies on you having enough local storage to do a full store restore.
    True. eSata/USB2 storage usually fixes that though and its really the only solution he's got at the moment cos he'll only have a std exchange backup to work with.
  • gareth886 8 Jan 2009 13:52:31 2,829 posts
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    X201 wrote:
    nickthegun wrote:
    I am 99% certain this is something she has done, rather than it being an exchange problem.
    Ah, SUE

    Stupid User Error

    :)
    As expected, this is exactly what happened. She somehow managed to do a "Hard Delete" from her Inbox. I used the Deleted mail recovery tool from the inbox instead of the Deleted Items folder and, as if my magic, up they popped.

    I will also be enforcing a stricter storage limits on the mailbox size and showing everyone how auto-archive works again.
  • JetSetWilly 8 Jan 2009 14:02:22 5,720 posts
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    PICNIC problem.

    Problem In Chair Not In Computer.
  • Nasty 8 Jan 2009 14:06:10 4,640 posts
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    I use PEBCAC

    Problem exists between chair and computer

  • ScoutTech 8 Jan 2009 14:10:36 2,372 posts
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    PEBCAK - Problem exists between chair and keyboard
  • HairyArse Moderator 13 Aug 2012 13:41:07 8,566 posts
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    Bit of a random bump I know but I didn't want to create a new thread.

    Anyone got an experience with Exchange 2003 and configuring email on iPhones?

    We have 3 users here who use their iPhone 4s to access their emails.
    For the past year or so this worked just fine. The accounts are set up with SSL disabled - I know this is not advisable, but it worked.

    Now, all of a sudden, no emails show up in any folders. The users can send emails just fine and they can browse their folders OK, but each one is empty. Also, while each account is still active, the phone's batteries are taking a hammering as they constantly try to sync.

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