Orphaned Ost Post Small Business Server 2003 Exchange Server Migration

By Author: John Peter
Total Articles: 69
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Windows Small Business Server is a server suite designed for small and medium businesses with not more than 75 users or workstations. With a codebase of Windows Server, this network suite includes applications like, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook for collaboration purposes. This also facilitates migrating from one server to another along with previous settings and data. But when you do so, take care of your *.ost files that are kept on individual clients' computers. These are offline files, which are created by Exchange Server and are allowed to be accessed only when the client sets up a connection with server. Migrating the server may violate their authenticity of logging into the new server. Since the files contain important e-mails received through server, a Convert OST to PST utility can become a necessity in case no backup is available to restore those e-mails.

In order to clarify the above statements and corresponding solutions, consider an administrator who performs a migration from an existing Small Business Server set up to another. As a result of ...
... this operation, the *.ost files at clients' ends are left as orphaned. All the users complain that they cannot download or access their e-mails for the reason that their domain has changed.

Cause

Because the domain has changed, the Exchange clients are no longer valid users of their respective *.ost files and old domain, and thus cannot access the server.

Solution

Here are the possible solutions to these kind of problems:

1)If there is a computer that is still connected to the same domain as before (i.e. the domain in which the old *.ost files and Outlook profile have been created), you can recover the data from *.ost files. For this, you need to copy the *ost files, one at a time, log into server with associated user account, start Outlook in offline mode, and then import its data in a *.pst file.
2)In cases when no computer is connected to original domain exists, you need to use commercial Convert OST utility. These are powerful Convert OST to PST products that can scan orphaned OST file and extracts its data in Outlook-accessible PST.

For safest and guaranteed conversion, use Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Exchange Desktop. This is a professional Convert OST utility that employs efficient procedures to convert an unusable OST to usable PST. The tool supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000.