Is someone able to tell me if there is a good reason why 'not' to use windows
NTBackup to backup and restore databases in a disaster recovery scenario?

I was testing some restore methods on a SQL 2005 server, to which i found
that a SQL restore (to my suprise) failed 2 / 5 times, but when compared to a
restore from an NTBackup which restored 5 / 5 times. I restored the databases
through the GUI's provided with each tool, but the SQL restore did not come
out on top?? During each test i deleted the DB and closed all existing
connections, and while restoring (via SQL) i always check the box in the
options to overwrite. Is there a reason why this may fail?

I need a backup process that works and SQL restore is not favourable at the
moment. NTBackup restored the backup to the original location and all i
needed to do was re-attach the database.

Some advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Rich.

Rich
You said that RESTORE via SQL has failed in some cases, can you elaborate a
little bit on?What if you want to move a file created by NTBackup to another
server or maybe to upgraded server , dod you check it?


"Rich." <Rich.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:33B46575-72D0-48F1-8F62-99D1DBEB82CF@microsoft.com...
> Is someone able to tell me if there is a good reason why 'not' to use
> windows
> NTBackup to backup and restore databases in a disaster recovery scenario?
>
> I was testing some restore methods on a SQL 2005 server, to which i found
> that a SQL restore (to my suprise) failed 2 / 5 times, but when compared
> to a
> restore from an NTBackup which restored 5 / 5 times. I restored the
> databases
> through the GUI's provided with each tool, but the SQL restore did not
> come
> out on top?? During each test i deleted the DB and closed all existing
> connections, and while restoring (via SQL) i always check the box in the
> options to overwrite. Is there a reason why this may fail?
>
> I need a backup process that works and SQL restore is not favourable at
> the
> moment. NTBackup restored the backup to the original location and all i
> needed to do was re-attach the database.
>
> Some advice would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Rich.

I find SQL Server backups *very* reliable. My bet would be that you have some handling error when
you tried the restore, but we can't comment further on that without more information. I never rely
on file backup (only) - I always do SQL server backup and sometimes, rarely, complement it with file
backups.

--
Tibor Karaszi, SQL Server MVP
http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/default.asp
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/tibor_karaszi


"Rich." <Rich.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:33B46575-72D0-48F1-8F62-99D1DBEB82CF@microsoft.com...
> Is someone able to tell me if there is a good reason why 'not' to use windows
> NTBackup to backup and restore databases in a disaster recovery scenario?
>
> I was testing some restore methods on a SQL 2005 server, to which i found
> that a SQL restore (to my suprise) failed 2 / 5 times, but when compared to a
> restore from an NTBackup which restored 5 / 5 times. I restored the databases
> through the GUI's provided with each tool, but the SQL restore did not come
> out on top?? During each test i deleted the DB and closed all existing
> connections, and while restoring (via SQL) i always check the box in the
> options to overwrite. Is there a reason why this may fail?
>
> I need a backup process that works and SQL restore is not favourable at the
> moment. NTBackup restored the backup to the original location and all i
> needed to do was re-attach the database.
>
> Some advice would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Rich.