Copy-only Backups for MS SQL

Backup Manager supports copy-only backups of MS SQL databases. Unlike regular backups, copy-only backups do not make any changes to the database and do not interfere with the normal sequence (Full / Incremental or Full / Differential) of database and log backups (visit MSDN Library to learn more). You can restore copy-only backups in the same way as regular backups.

Enable Copy-Only Backups

To perform a copy-only backup, do the following:

1. Open the Backup Manager configuration file (config.ini) in a text editor as an Administrator

   See Updating configuration file for the file location depending on your operating system

2. Add UseCopyOnlySnapshot=1 to the [MsSql] section

   If the [MsSql] section does not exist already, add this to the bottom of the file.

3. Save any changes made to the config.ini file
4. Stop and restart the Backup Service Controller

   See Restarting the internal backup processes and service for details

5. Run the backup or wait for the backup to run on schedule

Enable Full Backups

To switch from performing copy-only backups to performing full backups:

1. Open the Backup Manager configuration file (config.ini) in a text editor as an Administrator

   See Updating configuration file for the file location depending on your operating system

2. Change the value of the UseCopyOnlySnapshot parameter to 0 or remove the parameter from the configuration file altogether
3. Save the changes to the file
4. Stop and restart the Backup Service Controller

   See Restarting the internal backup processes and service for details

Recovery

Instructions on restoring data from this data source can be found on Recovering data in Backup Manager.