Newbie - require help with Backup

[AgentM]

Hi,

I am trying to restore a backup of a database, the problem is the restore requires 20 GB of data.
I don't have enoug drive space.

Is there a way that I can get a backup of the database so that when I restore it is less than 5Gb?

Plese help, I am new to these tasks.

thank you.

 

[mrdenny]

Nope. A backup backs up all the data in the database, and requires the same amount of space that the source database takes up when you do the restore.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[AgentM]

Thanks for the response.

I don't need the transaction logs, All I need is some data and the structure of the database.

Can I do that?

 

[mrdenny]

Nope. When you do a backup you get everything.

The only option would be to truncate the logs on the produciton server, shrink the log file, and then do the backup.

If you aren't consindered with keeping the logs for a point in time restore in production then you can change the databases recovery mode from full to simple.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000) / MCTS (SQL 2005) / MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[Catadmin]

You could use the Generate SQL Script Wizard to script out your objects, then use the Export Wizard to send out a small amount of data to a new database, back up that and then restore that. But that's not getting all the data from your DB.

Additionally, there are third party tools, like Quest's Litespeed, which compress backups when they are made. The caveat to tools like this, though, is you need a licensed copy for each server you're restoring/backing up DBs on, plus you will still need the regular amount of hard drive space for the actual database once you get it restored. The upside is, though, that all your backups done with the tool will take less space which might free up enough space for the actual Database.



Catadmin - MCDBA, MCSA
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