*Please direct me to the correct post if this has been covered before...i simply cant find it if it has. We recently lost our Exchange 2007 Servers OS. The OS was on its own partition which was wiped and rebuilt; however, a co-worker deleted the AD object of that server without my knowledge and added the same name back to AD. Is it still possible to recover mailboxes if the database is intact on the SAN. I have found many post that describes recovery but the all say its impossible to do if the AD Object was deleted.

The missing AD object is going to be the major problem here. That needs to be protected at all costs. However if you have lost it, then a lot of the information that is required for recovery is going to be lost as well. You could try installing a second server with a NEW name, then use the database portability to mount the database. You will need to use the same or higher version of Exchange 2007 for the new server. Lots of documentation on Technet around database portability. Personally though, in a server failure situation my preference is to recommend a call to Microsoft Support. Pay their fee and get them to sit you through the recovery. That will ensure that nothing is missed and give you the best chance of a successful recovery. Simon.Simon Butler, Exchange MVP Blog | Exchange Resources | In the UK? Hire Me.

Good points by Simon and if you find that you are unable to recover the desired data check out Lucid8's DigiScope http://www.lucid8.com/product/digiscope.asp since it can open an offline Exchange database without the need for any AD information. Once opened with DigiScope you can Browse, Search, Export PST, MSG and XML or Recover the data directly from the offline database to live mailboxes on any Exchange ServerTroy Werelius www.Lucid8.com Search, Recover, & Extract Mailboxes, Folders, & Email Items from Offline EDB's and Live Exchange Servers with Lucid8's DigiScope

Hi, Yes, you can try to use the database portability to mount the database. This is the step by step guide: http://exchangeshare.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/exchange-2007-database-portability/ Gen Lin TechNet Subscriber Support in forum If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com