Tape Recovery Knowledge Base

Normally emails are stored deep within your backup software. The complete Microsoft Exchange mailbox server database file (.edb) is embedded within the backup software files. The .edb file contains all the mailboxes and their respective emails.

In order to gain access to the emails, you must first restore the backup access the .edb file. Then you have two options:

This depends on the case.

If you try to access user data, which was originally stored inside a SharePoint server and then backed up on tape, you could use Ontrack PowerControls for SharePoint. With this specialised tool, all user data which is stored on SharePoint can be recovered as easily as emails, mailboxes and Exchange server databases.

If you can access your SharePoint server databases by extracting them with your backup software, just load them into Ontrack PowerControls for SharePoint and search for the material required.

If the user data is not stored inside a SharePoint environment and the backup software will not show any results, you should consult the experts at Ontrack. They have the necessary tools to both access the lost tape catalogue as well as recover any data that might needed from the tapes.

Even though it could be possible to access and extract an existing Exchange database file (.edb) directly from tape, it is neither common nor advisable since most IT professionals store their entire Microsoft Exchange server in a backup solution, which is then saved into a different format. Modern tape storage systems usually store their information on several different tapes. Accessing the entire contents of an .edb file can therefore result in a time consuming process.

The standard procedure of an .edb extraction is basically to copy the .edb file onto a different storage device – usually a disk – and then extract its content using Ontrack PowerControls for Exchange.

This is quite simple. You just import the .pst file into Ontrack PowerControls and extract the required emails. By using the target, you can select multiple single emails and collect them in any order that suits your needs. You can either copy and paste your selected emails and save them as a text file or assemble them and save them again as a .pst file for further use.

If you do not have an original .pst file on tape, you can also restore the single mailbox via an .edb file with Ontrack PowerControls, select the appropriate single mailbox, search for the important emails, arrange and save them as a new .pst file or as single text files.

Since tape content is sensitive to legal compliance and, in some cases, to legal prosecution, it is absolutely essential that the material is original. No additions or changes to the content and its metadata are allowed to be made by the backup or restoration software in use. With this in mind, only specialised software can be used to avoid inadvertent damage to evidence.

Even though it is possible to restore the tape content with your standard tape backup software, it is wise to use a forensically-sound email and content management tool, like Ontrack PowerControls. It allows IT personnel to meet all critical requests from the legal department and other external enquiries. Ontrack PowerControls software can also help administrators search, recover, restore and export data efficiently in Microsoft Exchange Server and/or Microsoft SharePoint Server environments.

You can use backup inventory and catalogue files. However, it is worth noting that tape restoration time should not be underestimated and forward planning is always advised to prevent disruption to your business.

In order to reduce time and money spent, it is worth knowing the structure (order, sessions and tape sets) of the backup tapes. With the possibility to create inventories and catalogue files by the backup software, a good deal of time can be saved when performing a backup extraction. Since these two files contain all the necessary information for the restore process, accessing them will dramatically speed up the backup process. Since not every source and tape storage location has to be checked over and over again, the restore just relies on the information provided and will therefore be much faster.

Extractions and restores for investigations and legal cases are normally performed the same way as normal extractions and restores. The content of the tapes is restored either by a full or a brick-level backup (to get access to the tapes content) or by using Ontrack PowerControls for Exchange or Ontrack PowerControls for SharePoint. Using this specialised tool, you can completely eliminate a brick-level backup for single item restore. Additionally, Ontrack PowerControls provides the ability to search, collect and extract the data stored inside a backup without changing the original data source.

For further investigation and legal purposes, Ontrack Legal Technology and Computer Forensic experts offer a wide range of services for every possible legal- and compliance-related situations. They provide standardised and unique processes ranging from data identification, data preservation, data collection as well as data analysis and data processing in order to gain complete insight and more control over digital document evidence.