As far as I know, only advanced version of VDP provides you with the specific agent for VMs that run special MS application such as SQL, Exchange, etc. So, it’s definitely not the agent that should be blamed here, but rather non-application snapshots that are taken by non-Advanced version of VD&P.The point is that without agent preinstalled inside VM, VD&P isn’t capable of taking application aware snapshots, And, according to Micrososft, Exchange non-VSS snapshots aren’t supported and might led to unexpected consequences (seems to be your case).
Moreover, it’s certainly not advisable to backup Exchange server without proper application awareness,since it might affect badly further recovery process.
So, either upgrade VDP to Advanced version or take a look at the existing 3-party solution that are available on backup/replication markey (like, Veeam Backup and Replication) that does guarantee application consistency, meanwhile, doesn’t require any agent being installed inside the guest.
Thanks.