Restoring backups: select backups

Restoring backups > Select backups > Destination database > Restore options > Review summary

This topic describes the Restore wizard page for selecting the database that you want to restore, and the backup files to use.

Choose:

• Select from backup history to select from a list of backups that were created on the target SQL Server (the SQL Server to which you want to restore the backup).
• Browse for backup files to restore to select individual backup files using the file selector.

  For example, if the target SQL Server is different from the SQL Server on which you created the backup, or if you are restoring from a copy of the backup files, choose this option.

Select from backup history

Select the SQL Server and Database that was backed up.

Note that if the selected SQL Server does not have the server components installed, a warning is displayed and you must install the server components to proceed.

The backups for the selected database are listed. Select the backup you want to restore. (Note that backups that were created using SQL Backup version 4 are not listed; you can use Browse for backup files to restore to select these files.)

If you select a files or filegroups backup, you can select individual files or filegroups to restore at a later stage in the wizard.

When you click Next, SQL Backup retrieves the files for the selected backup. If you selected a transaction log backup or a differential backup from a backup set, SQL Backup automatically retrieves files for all backups in the set. For example, if you selected a transaction log backup, SQL Backup retrieves all transaction log backups since the corresponding full backup, and the full backup itself. You may see displayed while SQL Backup searches for the appropriate files.

The files are listed with the most recent first. You can reorder the list by clicking the column headers as required; this will not affect the order in which they will be restored.

is displayed next to any encrypted files. Type the password in Password, and click Decrypt. For all files that use the password you entered, is displayed. You must enter the passwords for all selected files before you click Next.

If there are any problems with a file, is displayed next to the file. For example, SQL Backup checks that all the files exist and are not corrupted. To see details of the error, move your mouse pointer over the icon.

By default, all the files that SQL Backup has identified as part of the backup set are selected to be restored. If required, you can clear the Restore check box for a file. For example, you may want to do this if you know that the full backup has already been restored to a database. However, note that the restore process may fail if you do not restore all required files.

Browse for backup files to restore

You may want to back up a database on one SQL Server, but restore the backup to a different SQL Server.

Similarly, you may want to restore a backup from a copy of the backup files. (If the backup files are on a network share, you are recommended to copy the files to a local folder before restoring; for more information, see the article Using SQL Backup to back up to a network share.)

In these circumstances, you must choose Browse for backup files to restore. (If you choose Select from backup history, when you select the SQL Server to which you want to restore the backup, you will not see the backup you require in the Available Restore Points list because it is not associated with the target SQL Server.)

Select the SQL Server to which you want to restore the backups, and then click Add Files. The file browser is displayed for you to select the backup files. If necessary, click Add Server and type the name of the (physical) server on which the backup files are located. You can then select the files from the tree view.

When you click OK on the file browser, the files you have selected are listed in the Restore wizard.

is displayed next to any encrypted files. Type the password in Password, and click Decrypt. For all files that use the password you entered, is displayed. You must enter the passwords for all selected files before you click Next.

If there are any problems with a file, for example a file is missing, is displayed. To see details of the error, move your mouse pointer over the icon.

If there are any problems with your selection, for example if you have selected backup files from different backup sets or databases, a message is displayed above the list of files.

SQL Backup displays only one message at a time, therefore when you have fixed the displayed problem, you may see a second message.

To remove a file from the list, select the file and click Remove; to clear the list, click Remove All.

Files or filegroup backups

If you have selected a files/filegroups backup, when you click Next a tree of the available files is displayed.

Select the check boxes for any files or filegroups that you want to restore and click Next.

Restoring backups > Select backups > Destination database > Restore options > Review summary