Can we restore from a ldf file.

  • Hi all,

    Please help me. One of my databases has been lost due to failure of hard drive at which my mdf file was located but i have ldf file safe on other hard drive.I also have 5 day old full backup of my database. I can up my database by restoring full backup. But can i restore data from ldf file so that I can get all transactions. I mean to say after restoring full backup can I restore that ldf file to this database.I tried but faced following error.

    The media family on device 'C:\New Folder\New_log.ldf' is incorrectly formed. SQL Server cannot process this media family.

    RESTORE HEADERONLY is terminating abnormally. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 3241)

    If anybody know about this then please help me.

    Thanks in advance.

  • Hi,

    No its not possible to rebuild a .mdf file using .ldf file. If your log file(.ldf) is corrupt then you can rebuild the log which is the last course you do. Unless you don't have a backup there is much you can do.

    The only resort we have here is to restore it from the recent backup which you have got.

  • No you can not, unless you have transaction log backups since your last full back up

  • sudhirrsingh.parmar (4/9/2009)


    I also have 5 day old full backup of my database.

    And also how come you don't have a recent backup ? What are your business requirements?

  • Krishna Potlakayala (4/9/2009)


    sudhirrsingh.parmar (4/9/2009)


    I also have 5 day old full backup of my database.

    And also how come you don't have a recent backup ? What are your business requirements?

    sudhirrsingh - not to kick you while you're down, but Krishna makes a great point. Look around this site, whenever someone states they have a corruption or have deleted data BUT have no backup, that's the first question asked - Why not??. There are no excuses when you have a production system and your backups are either non-existent or dated. It's "your-data, your-job". Five days old, in my environment, would mean no job in the event of disaster. Put together a DR setup based on the data-loss tolerance of your enivironment, be sure it works as designed (means TESTING) and you'll sleep better at night knowing you're ready for the worst.

    -- You can't be late until you show up.

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