How to back up a SQL Database

How to back up a SQL Database

Overview

Backing up a SQL database is useful when migrating SQL server, needing to send a copy of the database to someone, or simply backing up the database to restoration purposes. 

Requirements

  1. SQL Server Managment Studio
  2. SQL Credentials or Windows Authentication when applicable

Back Up SQL Database

  1. Open SQL Server Manager Studio
  2. Connect to your SQL Server instance using either SQL credentials or Windows credentials assuming the database allows for it
  3. In Object Explorer, expand Databases and right-click the database you want to back up
  4. Select Tasks > Back Up…
  5. In the Backup Type, choose "Full"
  6. Under Destination, choose Disk and click Add… to specify the backup file path (e.g. C:\Temp).
  7. Click OK to start the backup
  8. When done, you can optionally zip up the database to reduce its size

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