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How to: Restore to a Point in Time (Transact-SQL)

This topic explains how to restore to a point in time.

To restore to a point in time

  1. Execute the RESTORE DATABASE statement using the NORECOVERY option.

    Note

    If a partial restore sequence excludes any FILESTREAM filegroup, point-in-time restore is not supported. You can force the restore sequence to continue. However the FILESTREAM filegroups that are omitted from your RESTORE statement can never be restored. To force a point-in-time restore, specify the CONTINUE_AFTER_ERROR option together with the STOPAT, STOPATMARK, or STOPBEFOREMARK option, which you must also specify in your subsequent RESTORE LOG statements. If you specify CONTINUE_AFTER_ERROR, the partial restore sequence succeeds and the FILESTREAM filegroup becomes unrecoverable.

  2. Execute the RESTORE LOG statement to apply each log backup, specifying:

    • The name of the database to which the transaction log is applied.

    • The backup device from where the transaction log backup is restored.

    • The RECOVERY and STOPAT options. If the transaction log backup does not contain the requested time (for example, if the time specified is beyond the end of the time covered by the transaction log), a warning is generated and the database remains unrecovered.

Example

The following example restores a database to its state as of 12:00 AM on April 15, 2020 and shows a restore operation that involves multiple log backups. On the backup device, AdventureWorksBackups, the full database backup to be restored is the third backup set on the device (FILE = 3), the first log backup is the fourth backup set (FILE = 4), and the second log backup is the fifth backup set (FILE = 5).

Important

The AdventureWorks database uses the simple recovery model. To permit log backups, before taking a full database backup, the database was set to use the full recovery model, using ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks SET RECOVERY FULL.

RESTORE DATABASE AdventureWorks
   FROM AdventureWorksBackups
   WITH FILE=3, NORECOVERY;

RESTORE LOG AdventureWorks
   FROM AdventureWorksBackups
   WITH FILE=4, NORECOVERY, STOPAT = 'Apr 15, 2020 12:00 AM';

RESTORE LOG AdventureWorks
   FROM AdventureWorksBackups
   WITH FILE=5, NORECOVERY, STOPAT = 'Apr 15, 2020 12:00 AM';
RESTORE DATABASE AdventureWorks WITH RECOVERY; 
GO