When to use ESEUTIL /R
An external event unexpectedly stops an Exchange database, but the database and log files remain intact and in place. For example, the disk controller is broken, the hard drive is intact.
After you replace the disk controller, if you cannot mount the mailbox store, you can run eseutil /R to run soft recovery.
Generally, you should always run Eseutil /R from the folder where the transaction log files to be replayed exist. This is because the default soft recovery process looks in the transaction log files to find the path to the databases.
If you run Eseutil /R from a folder where no log files, you should use syntax similar to the following:
Eseutil /R E00 /Ld:\exchsrvr\logfiles
This command will bring the database into a consistent state. You should be able to mount the database.
If you receive errors when mounting the database, it is possible the database is corrupted. The eseutil /p can be used to repair the database with possible data loss.
Then mount the database.
