Restore specific columns from a database

  • Hi,

    I have an SQL .bak file and I would only like to restore specific columns as one of the columns is a free text field and is substantially increasing the size of the file. I can't restore it due to disk space constraints so dropping the column isn't possible if I can't get the table into a database locally.

    Any advise would help a lot.

    Thanks!

  • Not only can you not restore just specific columns, but you can't restore just specific tables. A restore operation restores the whole database (well, there is such a thing as a partial restore using filegroups, but that requires special types of backups too). What you can do is restore the database to another location and then move the data you need moved.

    Another option is to look to a third party tool like Red Gate SQL Data Compare. It can be used to compare the tables and columns between a live database and a backup file to retrieve just specific columns worth of data.

    Disclosure, I work for Red Gate.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

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