Taking a disk image with Windows Server Backup while SQL Server is running

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I'm using Microsoft's Windows Server Backup tool on a Windows 2008 R2 Server running SQL Server 2008.

I want to take a disk image of a drive on which SQL Server is running (databases are on the drive and it has ldf, mdf, and ndf suffixed files).

The drive is the D drive and does not contain windows or the sql server programs (or any other program folders). Those are all on the C drive.

I only want to take an image of the D drive.

Will the disk image skip the *.ldf, *.mdf, & *.ndf files, fail, or handle them fine without my stopping or pausing SQL Server?

Best Answer

It'll copy the files in their state as of the VSS snapshot without failing. (I do it twice a day.)

However, if you're planning on restoring the SQL files later, this is not a supported method. You'll want to either use SQL's built-in native backup instead, or purchase a SQL-specific backup product. (During the time it takes for the snapshot to complete, the .mdf and .ldf files can get out of sync.)

If you just want an image of the drive that has those files on it for other reasons, that's probably fine.

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