The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 8: Backup and Restore for FILESTREAM DatabasesThe script in Listing 8-11 restores the file backup that we created earlier. Note the usageof the PARTIAL option in the restore process. When the script has successfully executed,the new database will be online and you will be able to query all the data that is availablein the primary filegroup.Any filegroups that were not part of the restore will be piecemeal restored and, in thecase below, the FILESTREAM filegroup will be marked as RECOVERY_PENDING, as shownfrom the query against the system catalog view sys.database_files in Listing 8-12.USE NorthPolePartialGOSELECTtype_desc,name,physical_name,state_descFROM sys.database_files/*type_desc name physical_name state_desc---------- ------------ ------------------------------ ---------------ROWS NorthPoleDB C:\ArtO..\NorthPolePartial.mdf ONLINELOG NorthPoleLOG C:\..\NorthPolePartial_log.ldf ONLINEFILESTREAM NorthPoleFS C:\ArtOfFS\Dem...\NorthPole_fs RECOVERY_PENDING*/Listing 8-12:Retrieving the list of filegroups associated with a database.The FILESTREAM filegroup will become a "ghost" and, unless you have a file backup ofthe FILESTREAM filegroup and associated transaction logs, there is no way to get rid of it.The data stored in such ghost filegroups will not be available to the database.In this example, all the data in the Items table except the FILESTREAM columns will beavailable for reading and writing. However, if we attempt to access the FILESTREAM data,SQL Server will generate an error. Therefore, the SELECT * on the Items table will failbecause this operation attempts to read the FILESTREAM column along with all the othercolumns, as illustrated in Listing 8-13.324