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If you ever find your self in a position where you need to run a hard repair against an Exchange database, it is important you understand the entire procedure. First I should say that running the /p against your database should never be your first choice, it is always your last resort. You have no backup, and no other options.

So here is your procedure

1. eseutil /p <path to edb>
   1. this process will take a long time, usually deleting the unicode table takes the longest and you should be careful not to click in the black command prompt window, this can pause eseutil. If you do pause, you can resume by clicking the top cmd promt title bar and pressing F5. This procedure will take a while.
   2. this process deletes data that is corrupt or incomplete so the database can be brought back to a consistent state.
2. eseutil /d <path to edb>
   1. this process will defrag the repaired database and must be run after the /p.
   2. you must have at least 110% free space, relative to the database size in order to run this command. You can redirect to another temp location using the /t switch (eseutil /d <full path to edb> /tX:\tempdfg.edb)
   3. again do not click the command prompt screen, it may pause eseutil
3. isinteg –fix <servername> –test alltests
   1. Before you can run isinteg –fix you will have to mount and dismount the database. To do this,
      1. move all logs from the original storage group location, stop smtp so no new mail is delivered to the database, mount the DB and then dismount, you can then restart SMTP.
   2. isinteg will create a log file named isinteg.pri, check this log when finished, at the bottom of the log you will see how many errors and fixes were encountered. Run this test until you see 0 errors and 0 fixes. You may need to run this 2 or 3 times.

Once you have run EACH of the steps above you can then mount your Database and allow your clients to connect. Each is very important to the stability of your database in the future. It is even recommended that you eventually move all your mailboxes from this database to a new database in the future.

The process of using eseutil /p can get you out of a bad situation but it is never something you want to use unless you are out of options. This will take a LONG time and you will lose data from your DB.

recap – process is

eseutil /p

eseutil /d

mount / dismount

isinteg –fix –s <servername> –test alltests

Before I explain the difference before the clean and dirty states of an Exchange database we should explain how