Restore last backup from bak file using script

Question

I am backing up using the same .bak file. I created a script to automatically restore this backup.

RESTORE DATABASE [xxx] FROM DISK = N'xxx.bak' WITH FILE = 10, NOUNLOAD, REPLACE, STATS = 10 GO 

Here, the backup set for recovery is explicitly specified. However, I always want to restore the last available set. By default, the first set of backups is used.

Answer 1

Use the RESTORE HEADERONLY command to find the backup you want, since BackupFinishDate is displayed in this result set. Pay attention to the "Position" field; This is the FILE number.

At this point, if you already know the logical names, you can run the RESTORE command using the FILE parameter in the WITH clause.

 restore database yourDB from disk = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\yourDB.bak' with file = 3 

You may already know that you can use the RESTORE FILELISTONLY command to find logical names.

Tibor Karaszi posted a similar (but not the same) solution here: http://www.karaszi.com/SQLServer/util_restore_all_in_file.asp You can use its CREATE TABLE commands to get RESTORE HEADERONLY results in a table. What I have enclosed below shows how to get RESTORE FILELISTONLY results in a table (also torn from Tibor).

 create table FLO_results ( LogicalName nvarchar(128), PhysicalName nvarchar(260), [Type] char(1), FileGroupName nvarchar(128), Size numeric(20,0), MaxSize numeric(20,0), FileId bigint, CreateLSN numeric(25,0), DropLSN numeric(25,0), UniqueId uniqueidentifier, ReadOnlyLSN numeric(25,0), ReadWriteLSN numeric(25,0), BackupSizeInBytes bigint, SourceBlockSize bigint, FilegroupId bigint, LogGroupGUID uniqueidentifier, DifferentialBaseLSN numeric(25), DifferentialBaseGUID uniqueidentifier, IsReadOnly int, IsPresent int ) ; insert into FLO_results exec(' restore filelistonly from disk = ''C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\yourDB.bak'' ') ; select * from FLO_results ; drop table FLO_results ; 

Answer 2

To increase the previous answer @Oliver. Here's a script ( here ) to show HeaderInfo for your xxx.bak backup.

 DECLARE @HeaderInfo table ( BackupName nvarchar(128), BackupDescription nvarchar(255) , BackupType smallint , ExpirationDate datetime , Compressed bit , Position smallint , DeviceType tinyint , UserName nvarchar(128) , ServerName nvarchar(128) , DatabaseName nvarchar(128) , DatabaseVersion int , DatabaseCreationDate datetime , BackupSize numeric(20,0) , FirstLSN numeric(25,0) , LastLSN numeric(25,0) , CheckpointLSN numeric(25,0) , DatabaseBackupLSN numeric(25,0) , BackupStartDate datetime , BackupFinishDate datetime , SortOrder smallint , CodePage smallint , UnicodeLocaleId int , UnicodeComparisonStyle int , CompatibilityLevel tinyint , SoftwareVendorId int , SoftwareVersionMajor int , SoftwareVersionMinor int , SoftwareVersionBuild int , MachineName nvarchar(128) , Flags int , BindingID uniqueidentifier , RecoveryForkID uniqueidentifier , Collation nvarchar(128) , FamilyGUID uniqueidentifier , HasBulkLoggedData bit , IsSnapshot bit , IsReadOnly bit , IsSingleUser bit , HasBackupChecksums bit , IsDamaged bit , BeginsLogChain bit , HasIncompleteMetaData bit , IsForceOffline bit , IsCopyOnly bit , FirstRecoveryForkID uniqueidentifier , ForkPointLSN numeric(25,0) NULL, RecoveryModel nvarchar(60) , DifferentialBaseLSN numeric(25,0) NULL, DifferentialBaseGUID uniqueidentifier , BackupTypeDescription nvarchar(60) , BackupSetGUID uniqueidentifier NULL, CompressedBackupSize numeric(20,0) ) INSERT INTO @HeaderInfo EXEC('RESTORE HEADERONLY FROM DISK = N''xxx.bak'' WITH NOUNLOAD') SELECT * FROM @HeaderInfo