The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 8: Backup and Restore for FILESTREAM DatabasesWhen the backup has been restored, go to the FILESTREAM data container and youwill see 101 files instead of just the 1 that you would normally expect to see. It is quitesurprising to see that all the garbage files came along with the backup, and they all gotrestored in the new location.The garbage files unnecessarily increase the backup time and size, and increase the diskspace requirements on the target location. My tests showed that a transaction log backupfollowed by a full backup on the target database clears the garbage files the next time thegarbage collector runs.SummaryWe have seen that taking a backup of a FILESTREAM database is no different frombacking up a non-FILESTREAM database. However, a restore operation may need a littlebit more attention when restoring to a different database because you have to specify thelocation to which the FILESTREAM data is to be restored. In addition, you need to makesure that the FILESTREAM feature is enabled on the target database. SQL Server supportspoint-in-time recovery of FILESTREAM-enabled databases and this chapter presented anexample to demonstrate this feature.SQL Server allows the creation of full file backups of FILESTREAM databases that do notinclude the FILESTREAM filegroups. When such a backup is restored, all the relationaldata will be accessible. If you attempt to access the FILESTREAM data, SQL Server willgenerate an error.The backup of a FILESTREAM database includes the garbage and orphaned files that arepresent in the FILESTREAM data container at the time of the backup. These files will berestored on the target location when the database is restored.328