Filegroup Archiving

  • Hi

    I have a db with a few filegroups. I would like to 'remove' the filegroups from the db and place them on slow/tape storage in case of the need of retrieval in the future.

    What would be the best strategy for this?

  • You can't do that exactly. Best bet would probably be something like:

    Take a backup of the primary filegroup and the archive filegroups (you need primary), put that backup onto archive storage. Then drop the tables and then the flegroups. If you need then again though, it'll be a complex process of restoring the backed up filegroups as a separate database.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • When you say complex, what do you mean exactly 🙂

  • Restore they backed up primary and the archive filegroups as a new database, then if you need the data in the original database, copy it across.

    Thinking about it some more, if the filegroups are read only before you take the backups, you should be able to drop the tables and take the filegroups offline, then, if the data is needed, restore the filegroups to the existing database. However any attempt to query the offline filegroup will result in errors. It's probably something you want to test carefully before doing.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Yes I have seen it mentioned before with regards to taking a filegroup offline.

    How is this done though?

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