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mikebird
Aged Yak Warrior
529 Posts |
 Posted - 2009-01-31 : 08:19:42
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| Can you summarise the differences between these types of database files?I'd think if I had an up-to-date .MDF file, I'd attach that to a server. It is possible to use a .BAK to restore a database to a server which hasn't been on there before, isn't it? I think I've done that before. Why do we use .BAKs? Why not just .MDFs all the time?What can and can't be passed between versions of 6, 7, 2000, 2005 and 2008? |
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sodeep
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
7174 Posts |
Posted - 2009-01-31 : 09:30:38
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| If you have detached properly, then you should be able to attach with MDF file.But You should always have .bak files for database incase of Disaster Recovery. Log files are useful for recovery of databases.You can't attach or restore from New version to previous version but it works vice versa.SQL 6.5 lets you backup individual table. |
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heavymind
Posting Yak Master
115 Posts |
Posted - 2009-01-31 : 17:05:38
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| Btw, .log files have nothing to do with database files at all. Probably you mean .ldf files. anyways sql server does not have a mandatory extension standard for database files - for instance you may give your backup file extention .bkp and it would not cause any problem.The mdf file is good for fast transfer when you want to have the db on target server as soon as possible however it requires you detach the database thus make it offline. Backup of database is online process so you can make silent copies of db w/o offlining active users.Thanks, VadymMCITP DBA 2005/2008Chief DBA at http://www.db-staff.com |
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.MDF / .BAK / .log