Data Recovery and Mail Management

Repair ZIP File, RAR Archive, 7z File, TAR File, TAR.Gz File, ZIP-64 File

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 06:55:00 +0000

Archive file is a storage facility that contains multiple data files together in a single file so that it uses less storage space, easy to compress and portable. Inbuilt encryption, random comments, error detection, error correction information, directory structures are stored in archive files. It is one of the best formats to store files because
files in this are stored in compressed format. Files can also be transmitted easily if it is in compressed format.

One of the commonly used file format is ZIP. Files in this format have .zip extension. It is the most common type of archive file. It compresses data which saves space and it’s easy to send this file as an attachment. It contains data in encoded form. ZIP files can be created using Win-zip and WinRAR compression software.

Advantages & Uses:

When you store your data as archive, it is indexed, searchable and classified. Other benefits of archiving file include sufficient performance for applications, effective storage tiering, information management and regulatory compliance. Features of an archived file include encryption of data, compression of data, extraction, installation, concatenation of files and file spanning.

Archive files are used in storing system file data and metadata within a specified file. It can be stored on systems and can be sent over the network. As software contents are spread across several files, archive file can be used for packaging software for distribution.

Types of Archive Files:

ZIP File: This file is created using WinZip and WinRAR to compress the size of the actual file and store multiple files in a single .zip file.
RAR File: The compression ratio of RAR file is greater than that of ZIP file. It also support file spanning and error recovery. Files in this format have .rar extension.
TAR File: Tape archive (TAR) format was developed to write data to sequential I/O devices. Now used for collecting, archiving and distributing many files.
TAR.Gz File: This format is one of the archive file formats which compresses TAR files and create new format, i.e. tar.gz format. It provides freedom form highly complex set of rules.
7-Zip File: It’s a freeware format. It also helps to recover corrupted 7-zip file.

Zip files can easily get corrupted or damaged. Corruption of files leads to inaccessibility of files and the situation becomes even more frustrating when you do not have back up of zipped files. You are not able to extract or restore data as it has become inaccessible due to corruption, and then there is a need of repairing this file or recovering data from this file. Files can get corrupted due to many reasons such as virus attacks, power failure (while creating or extracting file), hard drive failure and interruptions.

WinZip and WinRAR applications create compressed ZIP file which are prone to corruption. If you need a solution to only repair ZIP file, then read ZIP Recovery

Corrupt files should be repaired before extracting it. WinRAR has an inbuilt repair tool, by this you can repair corrupted ZIP and RAR files. Some basic steps are required to be followed to successfully repair your corrupted Zip file:

Open WinRAR application
Click on file, and then select open
A find archive window will be opened, select corrupt zip file from your system
Click on open button
Press Alt+R
Repairing File Name.zip will be opened
Click on browse to save repaired file at desired location
Check Treat the corrupt archive as ZIP box, and then click OK
After corrupt ZIP archive is repaired, click on close.

You can use this above manual solution and repair your corrupt Zip file. For this you need to have WinRAR application installed in your computer. The inbuilt repair tool of WinRAR is easy to use but the limitation of this application is it can use to repair only .zip and .rar files. It is not helpful if your file is some other archive format. To repair file created using format, you need to use third party tool.

Archive Recovery tool from SysInfoTools is one of the competent tool that repairs the files which are created using any archive file format which include many formats such as ZIP, RAR, TAR, TAR.Gz and 7-Zip. It can perform multiple files recovery process. It doesn’t modify the original data. You can try its free demo version before using the full version.

Backup Repair: Repair BKF Files of NTBackup, Symantec & SQL Server

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 06:23:00 +0000

Backup (BKF) files are created to store data of original file. A copy of original file is created to ensure the availability of data if the original file gets damaged or corrupted. Corruption makes the file inaccessible and thus, leads to loss of data. But you can restore your original file if you have created backup of it. A valid BKF file is required to restore data of original file. Microsoft Windows’ inbuilt “NT-Backup” utility is used to create backup file. Another backup utility is Symantec Backup Exec; it is a commercial ware application which can be executed in many operating systems.

You can create BKF file of various original files including databases. If your files get corrupted, then it becomes very difficult to repair it or restore data from it. Your task of restoring original file will become easy if you have backed up the original file. BKF file can also get corrupted due to various reasons such as software or hardware malfunctions, interruption in backup job, system failure, abrupt system shutdown, virus attacks and many more. Corruption of BKF file leads to severe loss because BKF file is the last resort to restore original data file.

Repairing corrupt BKF file is the solution to access the data stored in it. There is no utility provided by Microsoft to repair corrupted BKF file. You need to use recovery software to repair corrupted BKF file. Choosing good software among available software is one of the important tasks.

SysInfoTools Backup Exec BKF Repair Pro software repairs all type of backup files. It can recover SQL database from corrupt backup file. It also recovers backup files which are in compressed form. It can recover multiple BKF files simultaneously. Any level of corruption can be handled by this software. All these features of SysInfoTools Backup Exec BKF Repair Pro make it unique from rest of the available software. It is advanced solution to repair highly corrupted BKF file and it makes your task more easy by repairing multiple corrupted BKF files at the same time.

How to Perform Exchange Server Recovery from BKF File?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 05:09:00 +0000

Exchange Server developed by Microsoft is a multi-purpose server program which serves as an email server, contact manager, calendaring application, etc. Important data of organization are stored at Exchange Server. Backup file of Exchange Server is one of the most important files for organization. If sometime your original file of Exchange Server becomes inaccessible, then you can retrieve all the data by restoring backup file.

Backup utility such as Microsoft NT-Backup, Symantec backup and other utilities can be used to create BKF file of Exchange Server. Three types of files are included in BKF file of an MS Exchange Server including LOG, EDB and STM. LOG file include information related to modification and changes performed on exchange server databases. EDB file known as Exchange Database which stores exchange information in the form of database. STM file known as Streaming Media file which stores internet contents.

Corrupt BKF File of an Exchange Server

BKF file is one of the reliable option by which you can restore your original file of an Exchange Server, if your original Exchange Server files get corrupted. But sometimes BKF files can also get corrupted or damaged as these files are not immune to corruption. BKF file of an Exchange Server can get corrupted due to corruption in header, software malfunction, virus attacks, interruption while creating backup or restoring it, and many more. You cannot use your BKF file of an Exchange Server if it is corrupted. Thus, you cannot restore original files from it without repairing it.

Solution to Repair Corrupted files of an Exchange Server

There is no inbuilt utility in Microsoft Windows by using which you can repair your corrupt Exchange BKF file. Therefore, recovery software is the only option by which you can recover data from your corrupt Exchange BKF file. Numbers of recovery software are available in the market but you need to choose the best one. Cost-effectiveness and reliability are the two factors which you need to consider while purchasing licensed version of recovery software. One such software is provided by SysInfoTools, i.e. SysInfoTools Exchange BKF Recovery. It is capable of repairing Exchange BKF files which are severely corrupted. Trial version of this software can be downloaded and installed on your system.

Repair MDF File of SQL Server

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:43:00 +0000

SQL Server DBMS and its Importance:

SQL Server is a relational database management system. The product is developed by Microsoft. It is widely used to store huge amount of data. Objects like tables, indexes, views, etc. are used to store data. The MDF file format is used to store SQL database files. Details of any alteration made in the server are stored in the transaction log file. These files are not immune to corruption. It can get corrupted which makes the files inaccessible. A database file of SQL Server may also get damaged if transaction log file gets large and exceeds the size capacity of hard disk.

Other reasons for the corruption include:

Abrupt system shutdown due to power failure
To access files when the server is active/running
Server problems or failure of hard drive
Exceeds the size limit of the database file
Accidental removal of log or accidental removal of database files.

All these reasons lead to corrupted tables, indexes, triggers, views and other objects.

Steps to Repair MDF File:

A manual approach to repair MDF file is to execute DBCC CHECKDB statements:

1. Dbcc checkdb ('database_name') with no_infomsgs

You do not need to repair file if the above statement is executed without any errors. Before executing the repair operation, you need to set the database in single user mode by executing:

2. Alter database 'database_name' set SINGLE_USER
You can now start repairing process by using Repair_Rebuild model by executing:

3. Dbcc checkdb('database_name', REPAIR_REBUILD)
If this statement executes successfully, then execute 5.5 else execute:

4. Dbcc checkdb('database_name', REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS)
This statement may lead to data loss. If it is executed properly then execute 5.5 else execute:

5. 5.1 Alter database 'database_name' set EMERGENCY
5.2 Alter database 'database_name' set SINGLE_USER

5.3 Dbcc checkdb ('database_name', REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS) with no_infomsgs, all_errormsgs

5.4 Alter database 'database_name' set ONLINE
5.5 Alter database 'database_name' set MULTI_USER

This manual solution is helpful if the file has minor corruptions and technical knowledge is required to execute this process. One more solution to repair MDF file is third-party recovery software which helps you to recover data from corrupted MDF file. Recovery software is very effective as it repairs highly corrupted file. There are many third-party tools available in the market. These tools are compatible with all the versions of SQL Server application. Effectiveness is the most striking feature of third-party software. Highly corrupted file can be repaired in no time. It is also one of the best reliable solutions.

MS SQL Server Recovery program from SysInfoTools helps you to recover your inaccessible data. It is supported by all the Windows operating systems. It is compatible with all the versions of SQL Server application. You can download and install a free trial version for evaluating the performance of the software.

Perform MBOX to PST Conversion using MBOX Converter

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:11:00 +0000

E-mail client is an application software by which users can easily manage and access their e-mail messages and other mailbox data. E-mail messages are composed by the user to send it over the network to the recipient(s). E-mail clients such as Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Eudora, IBM Lotus Notes, Netscape and Windows Live Mail. These locally installed e-mail applications are frequently used by the organizations as well as home users. Different e-mail clients support different e-mail file formats. Outlook stores all its mailbox items in PST format, IBM Lotus Notes stores its files in NSF format, Windows Live Mail stores data in EML format and MBOX e-mail format is used to store mailbox items of Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Eudora, Netscape etc.

Inaccessibility of mail files is the drawback of switching e-mail client from one to other. E-mail message created using one format cannot be opened in other e-mail client if the file formats are different. So, migrating from one e-mail client to another leads to the conversion of the format of the data files stored in it.

E-mail Formats: MBOX and PST

Converting MBOX files to PST is very typical and is usually required when you migrate from Apple Mail to Microsoft Outlook, as Apple Mail is used in Mac operating system and MS Outlook is supported by Windows operating system.

As Microsoft Outlook provides additional functionalities than all these e-mail clients, so Outlook has become more popular than any other e-mail clients. MS Outlook is deployed frequently by many organizations. The main cause behind switching from current e-mail client to Microsoft Outlook is the multiple features it provides to the users. Because of this reason, business users are also switching to MS Outlook. Microsoft Outlook also acts as an information manager.

Why we need E-mail Conversion?

Just consider the scenarios given below:

You have just joined a new organization where you need to use Microsoft Outlook. But in your previous organization, you used Apple Mail for mailing purpose. Now you need all the data (emails and other mailbox data) from Apple Mail. Apple Mail stores your data into a different format, i.e. MBOX, which is not understood by Microsoft Outlook. In such situation, you need to convert your MBOX files into such format which is easily understood by MS Outlook. MS Outlook supports PST format, so you have to convert your MBOX files into PST format to open them in MS Outlook.
Or, you have received an MBOX file from one your friends or clients to access the mails and other data items from it. You have MS Outlook installed on your system, so you cannot open or access the MBOX files as Outlook does not support MBOX file format. To view or read the MBOX files’ data in MS Outlook, you need to perform conversion of MBOX file into PST format.

Unluckily, neither Microsoft nor Apple provides any built-in tool or manual solution to importation and exportation of MBOX files to any other email clients. So a user is left with no option other than using a third-party converter tool. Many software companies are available in the online market which offer advanced tools for MBOX to PST Conversion. SysInfoTools is one of them which provide an excellent solution for MBOX to PST Conversion. Its MBOX Converter tool helps users convert their MBOX files into Outlook PST format. SysInfoTools provides many advanced features, such as: you can convert your corrupted MBOX files and other than PST format, you can save your MBOX files into other popular file formats (EML, MSG, RTF and HTML).

Repair OST File and Convert OST to PST

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 05:18:00 +0000

Microsoft Outlook consists of Offline Storage files (OST) to store data on a single file. Users can access the data files even if they are offline and not connected to the main server. OST file contains various information including email messages, journals, notes, contacts, calendar reminders, tasks, etc. A big problem arises when your OST file gets corrupted as it is prone to corruption. OST file can get damaged if Outlook application shuts down abruptly or if it crashes.

Other reasons for OST file getting corrupt are attacks from viruses or spyware, system failure, software and hardware malfunctioning and many others. The process to repair OST file gets difficult according to the level of corruption. Error messages may pop up while synchronizing OST file in Outlook, if Outlook is connected with mailbox on an Exchange executing server. Items from your OST file may be missing after synchronizing it with your mailbox.

OST Integrity Check Tool

Use OST Integrity Check tool (Scanost.exe) to check your OST file. This tool is used to determine and repair the issues related to synchronization of files. It scans damaged OST file and mailbox, compares and tries to restore the differences of synchronization. It doesn't change the mailbox. The scan log file also consists of information that the tool cannot repair. You can find scan log file in Deleted Items folder. To execute scanost.exe utility, you need to connect to your exchange account. Locate OST Integrity Check tool (scanost.exe) before executing it:

Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office_version

Steps to repair OST File by execute Scanost.exe:

Close MS Outlook application (if running)
Double click on Scanost.exe.
Tool will prompt for a profile according to your Outlook setting. Select the profile from the Profile Name list which consists of corrupted OST file.
Click on Connect (if prompted to select option from Work offline or Connect).
Choose the options accordingly. Select Repair Errors check box to let the tool automatically correct the errors.
Click on Begin Scan.

Scanpst.exe utility can also be used to repair OST file. But while using Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe), you have to make sure that it doesn't interact with Inbox folder which is running on the server integrated with Exchange Server. Third manual solution is to disable the corrupted OST file and create a new file.

Open Microsoft Exchange Server and select Change. Navigate to Advanced tab > More Settings > Offline Folder File Settings. Finally click Disable Offline Use to disable the OST file.

These are the exact manual solutions which can repair OST file of Outlook that is corrupted. As I have already stated difficulties in repairing depends up on the level of corruption. If your OST file is severely corrupted, then these solutions might not work. If you are unable to repair OST file manually, then you can use third party recovery program. OST File Recovery program from SysInfoTools is the reliable program to recover data from corrupted Outlook file. It scans the file and recovers data. You can then save the recovered data in different file formats including MSG, PST, MBOX, DBX, EML and Archive.

To get more details, you can visit the SysInfoTools’ website and download free trial version.

How to Convert DBX to PST - Express to MS Outlook?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Marcus) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 11:07:00 +0000

Two most popular email clients from Microsoft include Outlook and Outlook Express. There are basically two segments of users: Home and Business. These messaging clients of Outlook family are developed for different section of users.

Need of an e-mail user

Home users require easily accessible e-mail component and whereas users from business environment require advanced e-mail functionalities in addition with a reliable e-mail component. Business users need a strong e-mail client for managing huge amount of information. You need to find the e-mail client best suited for you according to your purpose.

Things you would like to know about Outlook Express and Outlook

Outlook Express is mostly used by home users, who access their e-mail messages by connecting to an ISP. Files in Outlook Express are in DBX format. OE gives full access to necessary features like newsgroup, e-mails and directory standards. OE also offers the best migration feature which automatically imports all the e-mails, address book data, and mailbox settings from various e-mail applications including Microsoft Exchange Server, NetScape, Eudora and Outlook. Customized Inbox rules can be created to manage your e-mail messages. OE also contains greetings designed for birthdays or any special occasions.

If any of your Outlook Express DBX files is corrupted, so need not to worry about it. You can fix DBX file easily.

Outlook is an important component of Microsoft Office and has become prime application for organizations. It is also integrated with MS Exchange Server. Files in Outlook are in PST format. Other than e-mail service, you can integrate various advanced services given by Outlook such as: managing contacts, notes, tasks and calendars with Internet Explorer. Outlook integrated with Exchange Server, allows you to use public folders, share information and communicate with the work group. Import feature in Outlook enables you to import mailbox items from different e-mail clients. Outlook is so compatible that it also gets synchronized with PDAs (mobile device, palmtop computer, etc.).

Outlook v/s Outlook Express

Migration between e-mail clients

If you are currently using Outlook Express and you require using MS Office and Exchange Server by integrating to use its integration features, then you need to switch to Outlook. You might also require accessing integrated contact, tasks and calendar management feature. If you are looking for e-mail clients based on advanced Internet standards, you can meet these requirements by migrating from OE to Outlook, i.e. DBX to PST without losing any of your mailbox items.

Let me now share an easy way to convert DBX files to PST format. DBX to PST converter enables you to convert multiple DBX files at a time, i.e. it performs batch conversion. Within a single click, all your selected DBX files will get converted into PST format.

To know more about this conversion app, you can visit: www.sysinfotools.com