It is a unique problemthat I suspect that the answer is no way, but I will ask. We have a policy where we automatically delete email over 60 days old in the Sent Items folder. Due to a bug in Exchange 2003, users got away with creating folders *under* Sent Items that the mailbox manager never groomed. Exchange 2007 does not have that bug. So in the process of moving user's Mailboxesfrom the Exchange 2003 to 2007, the mailbox management profile deleted all the email older than 60 days.Now one user wants her deleted email back. We restored the old Exchange 2003 database she was in, did all of the cleanup on the database, successfully mounted the database, but ExMerge refuses to open it with errors:[09:12:51] Error 8007203a opening an LDAP connection. ('LDAP://EMAIL/rootDSE') (CADRoutines::GetNamingContextData)[09:12:58] Skipped 1 mailbox(es) homed on database 'RECOVERY STORAGE GROUP [User Name]/TCAT-TCD' because of errors.[09:12:58] Ignored 2 mailbox(es) homed on database 'RECOVERY STORAGE GROUP [User Name]/TCAT-TCD'.Error opening message store (MSEMS). Verify that the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is running and that you have the correct permissions to log on. (0x8004011d)So, am I working on an impossible mission? Even if I could have gotten ExMerge to work, I didn't find a way to onloy restore the Sent Items and sub folders and her total mailbox is over 5GB and of course it won't restore more than 2GB becuase of the ASCII PST it outputs to.SnoBoy

Can't tell you off the top of my head why you can't mount the DB, but honestly I prefer using 3rd party tools to open an offline EDB.http://www.ontrackpowercontrols.com/NetApp offers SMBR which is a rebranded powercontrols app or use Quest Recovery Manager. They will open the EDB file whether in a dirty or clean state.Sr. Exchange Engineer - Constellation Energy

So how exactly did you restore the Exchange 2003 database? Did you create a Recovery Storage Group (RSG) then try to exmerge the mailbox?MVP Exchange Server

This article may helphttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/322312 Andrew Sword, MVP

Hi SnoBoy, Please understand that exmerge tool has option to only export the Sent Items folder and its sub-folder: 1. Run Exmerge tool, select Extract or Import (Two Step Procedure) 2. Select Step 1: Extract data from an Exchange Server Mailbox 3. Type Exchange Server name and select Options: 4. Under Folders tab, select Process only these folders and add the Sent Items folder. Please also select Apply action to sub folders of the selected folders For Exmerge error, I suggest you refer to following article: Troubleshooting ExMerge Issues http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124178(EXCHG.65).aspx Mike

We chose ontrack just because it would work without error. I couldn't get ExMerge to start, probably because of the weird split betweenthe two servers. I am happy to report we are very nearly fully moved. I have to admit that installing Exchange 2007 was the most difficult Exchange server product ever (I started with Exchange 5.4, so I am not a novice Exchange admin by any means).SnoBoy

Now the we have MS DPM installed, restores are a lot more straightforward. We dumped BackupExec and the huge problems we had using it and also renewing licensing. I have never seen a company that has such a mucked up system for renewals as Symantec.SnoBoy