November 20, 2013 at 9:33 am
Please consider the following scenario:
Day1: FULL DB Backup
Day2: Differential Backup
Day3: Copy-Only Full Backup
Day4: Differential Backup
am I right in thinking that it is not possible to restore the copy only full backup then the latest differential because I'm not using the original full backup?
I just tried this on a test server and I'm pretty sure that it's not possible but I just want to double confirm with you guys.
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Howard Zinn
November 20, 2013 at 12:23 pm
My understanding (and I thought I'd posted a similar question, but can't find it) is that you will not be able to restore the Copy Only backup, then the last Differential. The reason is that a copy only backup does not "register" as a "backup," so the next differential (your day 4) is still against the "base" full backup from day 1.
Best use of copy onlies that I've found so far is refreshing a QA or Dev server from Production, as it won't cause problems if you need to restore and can't find the full you used to refresh...
November 21, 2013 at 3:24 am
Yes, that's correct. The idea of a copy-only backup is that it is an independent backup and doesn't break the normal chain of full and differential backups, which is very useful if you want to do an extra adhoc backup without interrupting the usual backup sequence.
The downside of this is that the situation you describe won't work, as a differential backup is always relative to the last full backup.
There's some more details around copy-only backups here : http://www.sqlmatters.com/Articles/Creating%20a%20copy%20only%20backup%20to%20avoid%20breaking%20a%20backup%20chain.aspx
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November 21, 2013 at 3:41 am
Thanks for the confirmation guys.
---------------------------------------------------------
It takes a minimal capacity for rational thought to see that the corporate 'free press' is a structurally irrational and biased, and extremely violent, system of elite propaganda.
David Edwards - Media lens[/url]
Society has varying and conflicting interests; what is called objectivity is the disguise of one of these interests - that of neutrality. But neutrality is a fiction in an unneutral world. There are victims, there are executioners, and there are bystanders... and the 'objectivity' of the bystander calls for inaction while other heads fall.
Howard Zinn
November 22, 2013 at 9:16 am
Take a look at the RESTORE HEADERONLY information on the differential and both fulls.
Compare the differential's DatabaseBackupLSN to the FirstLSN of the Full backups - it goes with whichever one it matches (which, as was said above, will be the non-copy only full... unless it wasn't actually copy only!).
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