Differential restore on another server

jonwilk

Hi

I'm currently testing SQL backup in the 14 trial period. I have successfully managed to run a full backup and a full restore onto a new server. However I can not seem to be able to restore a differential backup onto the different server.

The steps I took are:

1) Perform full backup on server 1 - OK
2) Restore full backup on server2 - OK
3) Create differential backup on server1 - OK
4) Now i want to restore the differential backup on server2 - NOT OK

When i come to restore it using the GUI the Database list is empty and it asks me to select a database. Is it possible to do what i want to do?

Thanks

Brian Donahue

Hello there,

Thanks for your question. SQL Backup is merely not allowing you to do something that is not allowed by the server. That is, you cannot restore a differential backup to a database which is online. WHat you should do is this:

• Do a full backup
• Do a differential backup
• Restore the full backup, using leave database nonoperational (or read-only)
• Restore the differential, using the bring database online option

SQL Backup is not allowing you to choose any databases at the differential restore because no databases on the system are marked as LOADING or READ-ONLY.

jonwilk

Perfect.

Thank you