PowerControls mailbox recovery software solves the problem by allowing administrators to restore individual messages, mailboxes, attachments, and even notes, contacts and tasks from a previous full backup. The software can directly read .edb files so there is no need to do a brick-level backup to restore individual messages and mailboxes. PowerControls lets you search across all mailboxes in an archive .edb file, rather than searching one mailbox at a time or bringing an old backup back online for analysis. You can search by a variety of criteria, including keywords, subject, date, and specific users. Individual mailboxes need not be backed up because they can be restored directly from an .edb file.

PowerControls does not require you to change your normal backup process - it works in concert with your current backup procedures. And if you change those procedures, it will with them as well. Additionally, PowerControls will work with backups that you have already done, so you can restore data from any backups that exist prior to installing PowerControls.

How PowerControls Works

To better understand how you use PowerControls, you need an understanding of the PowerControls architecture. The key to PowerControls is its ability to directly read .edb files. Using it requires no change to backup procedures - rather, it works after a backup has been completed. The schematic below shows you how PowerControls works.  

Step 1: As normal, backup software backs up an Exchange database and creates Exchange backup sets.

Step 2: The PowerControls ExtractWizard restores the database to an alternate location that is not an Exchange server, as shown in Step 2.
Note: For those backup formats currently not supported by ExtractWizard, the Exchange backup software restores the database to an alternate location that is not an Exchange server.

Step 3: PowerControls can now be used to view and search through individual mailboxes, messages and attachments.

Step 4: PowerControls can restore a single mailbox, messages or attachments back to the production Exchange server, or to a new or existing .PST file at another location.