Old Mailboxes still exists on Database after move-request

Hammoudeh 346 Reputation points
2020-11-06T10:38:42.143+00:00

Hello All,

I have exchange 2013 CU7, Disk drive is almost full "drive E" and i moved around 750 mailboxes (300 GB size) to another database on different drive "drive F" and they moved successfully, the issue is the drive size still the same "drive E" after migrating most of mailboxes. i did run Get-MoveRequest -movestatus completed | remove-moverequest and i restart the server but no changes, i waited until maintenance time but still the same. i run Get-MailboxDatabase | Get-MailboxStatistics | Where { $.DisconnectReason -eq "SoftDeleted" } | ft DisplayName,Database,DisconnectDate and i found many mailboxes and i tried to softdelete them: Get-MailboxStatistics -Database MBD01 | where {$.DisconnectReason -match "SoftDeleted"} | foreach {Remove-StoreMailbox -Database $.Database -Identity $.MailboxGuid -MailboxState SoftDeleted} but that command did delete them all, instead prompt a massage to delete each mailbox individually, i soft delete around 40 mailboxes, but the sapace on the hard drive still the same "E drive". what else can i do to find around 300 GB on E drive.

Thank you

Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server Management
Exchange Server: A family of Microsoft client/server messaging and collaboration software.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Andy David - MVP 141.6K Reputation points MVP
    2020-11-06T12:08:00.617+00:00

    The Database will not shrink after moving maiboxes from it.
    You need to either do an offline defrag ( Not recommneded)

    Or:
    Move ALL the mailboxes from the database and then remove it

    P.S. CU7 is out of support.
    You should be at CU23

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  1. Lydia Zhou - MSFT 2,371 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2020-11-09T05:38:27.94+00:00

    @HamoudaAlbakri-3924

    As AndyDavid mentioned, moving or deleting mailboxes won't decrease the size of the database. When you move or delete mailboxes and items, free space is reserved as white space. The mailbox database will reuse this white space for any new mailbox items or objects. You can remove the database, then check the drive space again.

    Additionally, we can use the following command to check white space: 

    ESEUTIL /MS <.edb file location>

    If you want to know more about whitespace, please check:
    Understanding White Space in Exchange Mailbox Database,
    How To Check Database White Space In Exchange.
    Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
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  2. Hammoudeh 346 Reputation points
    2020-11-16T06:21:20.653+00:00

    I did move all mailboxes to another database. Whitespace size is 195 GB