Getting started - SQL Backup

With SQL Backup Pro you can create compressed, encrypted backups of Microsoft SQL Server databases, and easily set up backup verification for those backups with scheduled restore jobs.

With SQL Backup's compression, your backup files are usually 50% to 95% smaller than native SQL Server backups. You can also encrypt your backup files using 128- or 256-bit key Advanced Encryption Standard encryption.

The network resilience feature enables backup, restore and log shipping activities to resume automatically if they are interrupted by a network outage.

SQL Backup also features an interactive time line for quick access to a graphical overview of completed backup and restore activities, and jobs scheduled for the future.

SQL Backup works with remote SQL Servers and SQL Server clusters, and is compatible with SQL Server 2012, 2008, 2005 and 2000.

You can use SQL Backup Pro to:

back up multiple databases and transaction logs and set up scheduled backup jobs
schedule restore jobs for specific backup files or for backups that do not exist yet
create reminders to set up backup verification for scheduled backups
verify backups by setting up a scheduled restore job and database integrity check
restore exisiting database backups and transaction log backups to a particular point in time
set up scheduled transaction log shipping
generate automatic email notification when the backup or restore operation is completed, or if errors have occurred during the process
provide extra resilience against network outages for backups and log shipping
back up and restore databases from the command line interface
run SQL Backup processes while you are connected to the database server remotely using an application such as Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, or connectivity tools such as ADO, OLEDB, ODBC
view results of backup and restore processes from the Activity History
recover individual objects from a SQL Backup file with SQL Object Level Recovery Pro
generate Microsoft Tape Format (MTF) files from SQL Backup files

SQL Backup quality improvement program

SQL Backup can automatically send anonymous information about the features you use to Red Gate. This information helps Red Gate improve the reliability and performance of SQL Backup and decide which new features to add and bug fixes to prioritize.

When you run the SQL Backup graphical user interface for the first time, you are given the option to participate in the quality improvement program. If you choose not to participate, SQL Backup will not send any usage data back to Red Gate.

If you later change you mind about participating in the quality improvement program, you can change your participation status by following these instructions on the SQL Backup Support Center.

SQL Backup Standard and Lite retired

SQL Backup is now only available in the SQL Backup Pro edition. SQL Backup Standard and SQL Backup Lite have been retired.

If you are currently using SQL Backup Standard or SQL Backup Lite, please email dba.info@red-gate.com for a free upgrade to SQL Backup Pro.

Technical notes

You can run SQL Backup on SQL Server 2012 instances. See Installing or upgrading server components on SQL Server 2012 for more information.
SQL Backup does not support cumulative backups in a single file.
SQL Backup fully supports FILESTREAM storage introduced in SQL Server 2008.
To restore a backup file that was created by SQL Backup v6 or later onto a SQL Server instance running SQL Backup v5, you must first convert the backup file.