Question:
Can I use NT Backup to get a complete backup of PRIV.EDB and PUB.EDB while Exchange is running?
Answer:
NT Backup is Exchange-aware so you do not need to shut down Exchange. In fact, you don’t want to shut down Exchange because you want NT Backup to run an “Online backup,” which purges the log files.
Best to run it when traffic to the server is light, just for performance reasons, but otherwise no need to shut down Exchange.