Some questions never get old. Let me list a few of them. As the year 2012 is about to end, today I will talk about three of the most asked questions to me in an email. Let us learn about Restoring databases.
Q 1: What is AdventureWorks and where can I get it?
A 1: AdventureWorks is sample database build by Microsoft for running sample/demonstration queries for the user. You can get that from here. I have written an article on this subject earlier and have created video as well.
Q 2: Can I restore database backup taken from 64-bit server to 32-bit server and vice-versa?
A 2: Absolutely, You can do it as backups are just a file. Just like any other files (JPG, docs, etc) you can use them in 32 bit and 64 bit application server without any issue. The issue related to the platform should only arise with the application (like SQL Server, Office etc.).
Q 3: Can I restore a SQL Server 2012 database to earlier versions like 2008 or 2005? Or How to Downgrade my Database to earlier versions?
A 3: No, you can only move forward. This means, you can restore the database from 2005 or 2008 to 2012 version but can not do it in reverse order. The next most popular question I receive is if we can’t restore a SQL Server 2012 database to earlier version what is the next best option? I have personally faced this issue once before and I had manually created T-SQL script using Script and Data Generator Wizard in SQL Server 2012 (Watch Video over here) and rebuild my database in SQL Server 2008R2. If you have many different databases which you want to address, you can use SSIS to automate the script generation.
Here is one question, I always ask back to my users – why do you want to downgrade your database? I have hardly gotten a valid detailed answer on this subject. Did you face similar situation ever in your future? If yes, I would like to know more about it.
And one more thing…
Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)
