Restore an Exchange 2007 mailbox from a backed .edb file

Currently testing backing up and restoring with Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008.

I have a 'clean shutdown' backup of an Exchange 2007 database. For the exercise I have deleted a users mailbox in Exchange and are attempting to recover it using the .edb (and log files). However when I use the Recovery Storage Group, the mailbox match up screen (from the merge option) shows the deleted users mailbox. Since it cannot match this mailbox up to one in the main edb (because it was deleted), it shows no way to restore the mailbox.

So my question is: How do you restore a mailbox from an .edb when the mailbox does not exist in the Exchange store?

I have looked at using the eseutil /R tool from TechNet but have had no success. If you can use eseutil to restore it, and post some clear instructions for me to follow that would be fantastic.

If I am going about this the wrong way please let me know. It really shouldn't be hard to perform single mailbox restore manually from a clean shutdown edb.

Thanks in advance!

Solution 1:

Unfortuantely if the mailbox has been deleted, and has been purged from the server, so it is not longer availible in teh disconnected mailbox section, then you cannot use a Recovery Storage Group to recover it. This Technet article states:

However, a recovery storage group cannot be used to extract data if the entire mailbox has been purged or moved.

They suggest restoring he DB to to a recovery group and then moving to a live DB