Differential Backup Tricks

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Differential Backup Tricks

qian ye

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Points: 30
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June 6, 2006 at 2:12 pm

#190819

Comments posted to this topic are about the content posted at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/qyi/differentialbackuptricks.asp

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Ian Yates SSCoach Points: 19738 More actions · Answer 1

I don't really see that this is a trick necessarily. From a general SQL backup point of view (not just diff backups) you should be aware that SQL can store multiple backups in a single file.

I think it would be beneficial for people to be made aware of what a differential backup is, how it is different from an incremental backup (ie transaction log), etc..

In any case, thanks for sharing an article - I'm sure many people have been caught out by not using the INIT option when doing their backups.

philcart SSC-Forever Points: 47796 More actions · Answer 2

Hmm ... can't you just backup to different disk files and forget about the number? This would give you a better recovery solution.

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Colt 45 - the original point and click interface

CYCLOPSXXX SSC Veteran Points: 226 More actions · Answer 3

Agreed, no tricks here. Any DBA worthy of his position should be aware of this.

SQLBill SSC Guru Points: 51440 More actions · Answer 4

This is also true of FULL backups and LOG backups. If you append them, rather than overwrite, you have to know the proper file number to restore. Otherwise, you restore the first file. That's in the BOL under RESTORE.

So, it's a good article, but you make it sound like this only occurs with DIFFERENTIAL backups, when it happens for ANY type of backup that is appended.

-SQLBill