Restoring Databases from Backups

In the event that you have to restore your database(s) from a backup, the instructions provided here provide guidance.

Caution: Use caution when restoring databases. Do not attempt to restore a database over an existing database unless you are sure you want to replace the data in the existing database with the data in the backup files you will restore from.

Two methods for restoring backups in MS SQL Server 2005 are described in this section. While the process for restoring from each type of backup are similar, there are some significant differences that need to be considered when you attempt to restore a database. Please review the following explanations before deciding on the appropriate database restoration procedure:

  • Restoring from scheduled maintenance plan backups - Databases that are backed up according to a recommended maintenance plan include daily full database backup files and incremental (transaction log) backup files created every two hours. Restoring from maintenance plan backups will give you the ability to include the transaction log files in your restoration.
  • Restoring from on-demand backups - On-demand backups are full database backups that you create during the course of upgrading the MetaCommunications Server, upgrading SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005, or for any number of other reasons where it makes sense to create a full database backup instead of relying on the database backups created by your maintenance plan. One common situation where you would use this method is for restoring a database from a backup file recovered from tape or one that has been copied from another machine. The procedure for restoring from on-demand backups describes restoring from a full database backup without transaction logs.

Procedures

Restoring From Scheduled MS SQL Server 2005 Maintenance Plan Backups

Restoring From MS SQL Server 2005 Full On-Demand Backups

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