SQL Server Management Studio

SQL Server Management Studio

• Right click on the database name
• Select Tasks > Backup
• Select "Full" as the backup type
• Select "Disk" as the destination
• Click on "Add..." to add a backup file and type "C:\AdventureWorks.BAK" an click "OK"
• Click "OK" again to create the backup

transaction log backup allows you to backup the active part of the transaction log.  So after you issue a "Full" or "Differential" backup the transaction log backup will have any transactions that were created after those other backups completed.  After the transaction log backup is issued, the space within the transaction log can be reused for other processes.

SQL Server Management Studio

• Right click on the database name
• Select Tasks > Backup
• Select "Transaction Log" as the backup type
• Select "Disk" as the destination
• Click on "Add..." to add a backup file and type "C:\AdventureWorks.TRN" and click "OK"
• Click "OK" again to create the backup

Another option for backing up your databases is to use "File" backups.  This allows you to backup each file independently instead of having to backup the entire database.  This is only relevant when you have created multiple data files for your database

SQL Server Management Studio

• Right click on the database name
• Select Tasks > Backup
• Select either "Full" or "Differential" as the backup type
• Select "Files and filegroups"
• Select the appropriate file and click "OK"

A new option is "Partial" backups which was introduced with SQL Server 2005.  This allows you to backup the PRIMARY filegroup, all Read-Write filegroups and any optionally specified files.  This is a good option if you have Read-Only filegroups in the database and do not want to backup the entire database all of the time