- After connecting to the appropriate instance of the SQL Server Database Engine, in Object Explorer, expand the server tree.
- Expand Databases, and either select a user database or expand System Databases and select a system database.
- Right-click the database that you want to back up, point to Tasks, and then select Back Up....
- In the Back Up Database dialog, the database that you selected appears in the dropdown list. (You can change the database to any other database on the server.)
In the Backup type list, select a backup type. The default is Full.
Note: You must perform at least one full database backup before you can perform a differential or transaction log backup.
- Under Backup component, select Database.
In the Destination section, review the default location for the backup file (in the ../mssql/data folder).
You can use the Back up to list to select a different device. Select Add to add backup objects and/or
destinations. You can stripe the backup set across multiple files for increased backup speed.To remove a backup destination, select it and then select Remove. To view the contents of an existing
backup destination, select it and then select Contents.- Select OK to start the backup.
- When the backup completes successfully, select OK to close the SQL Server Management Studio dialog.
- After creating a full database backup, you can create a differential database backup or a transaction
log backup. - (Optional) You can select the Copy-only backup checkbox to create a copy-only backup. A copy-only backup is a SQL Server backup that's independent of the sequence of conventional SQL Server backups. For more information, see Copy-only backups. A copy-only backup isn't available for the Differential backup type.
- The Overwrite media option is disabled on the Media Options page if you're backing up to a URL.
- After creating a full database backup, you can create a differential database backup or a transaction