Recovery for SQL Server Frequently Asked Questions
If you have a problem that is not covered by this FAQ, do not hesitate to contact our technical support team.
Can Recovery for SQL Server recover my Microsoft SQL database(s)?
The effective way to find out if a Microsoft SQL database is recoverable is to try the demo version of Recovery for SQL Server on it. Visit the Download Demo page to get a free copy of the demo.
Product specifications with lists of items recovered and not recovered is available at the Product Information page.
Always backup your original corrupted Microsoft SQL database before proceeding with any recovery activity!
I have tried the demo. How do I decide whether to purchase the full version of Recovery for SQL Server?
You can decide this by evaluating the results of demo recovery. The demo version recovers a limited number of rows in each table. The remaining rows will contain "demo" in text fields and null values in other types of fields. Full version of Recovery for SQL Server will recover the demo-limited rows as well.
No additional tables or records are recovered by commercial version of Recovery for SQL Server if not present in demo output.
For more information see the Recovery for SQL Server online help.
What is the difference between Standard License and Enterprise License?
The license type refers to the number of copies to be used simultaneously. Standard license is intended for small business and individual use. One license allows one installation of Recovery for SQL Server and servicing an internal domain up to 50 computers. Primary user of the computer where the Recovery for SQL Server is installed may have another copy on their portable computer for exclusive usage. Please note that using Standard version of Recovery for SQL Server limits you to 24Gb of Microsoft SQL databases to be recovered!
Enterprise license gives the right to install two copies of Recovery for SQL Server and servicing an internal domain of 250 computers total. Also Enterprise license of Recovery for SQL Server does not have any limitation on Microsoft SQL databases to be recovered.
Both types of license do not have any limitations on the number and authorship of the Microsoft SQL databases to be recovered.
Please, note that to use Recovery for SQL Server in data recovery service you have to obtain the annually renewed Franchise license!
See License Information page for full disclosure and assistance.
Why do recovered files contain less data than the original Microsoft SQL database?
This is normal. The damaged parts of your Microsoft SQL database will convert to zero size on output. The other common reason of file size decrease is that some features of the original Microsoft SQL database are not supported and therefore the appropriate data is absent from the resulting files. Demo-recovered files mostly consist of demo placeholders than actual data from the original Microsoft SQL database.
I'm getting an Internal Program Error while using Recovery for SQL Server. What can be done?
Please, run Recovery for SQL Server in a logged mode and contact our support team with detailed description of the problem and the log file.
To create log file, please hold the SHIFT key while clicking the Recover button on the toolbar or selecting the Recover: item in the main menu. You can also press CTRL+SHIFT+R after launching the program.
I'm getting an error message that there's not enough free space. Is there a workaround for this?
Yes, if there is other drive with free space available (2-3 times of the original Microsoft SQL database size). Fix the Windows environment variable to use it. Do the following:
- Open System in Control Panel.
- On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables, then click the name of the user variable (TEMP or TMP) you want to change.
- Click Edit to change value.
- Set path to the location where temporary data should be stored (e.g., e:\).
- Restart computer for changes to take in effect.
- Run the software again.
You can also use the special environment variable called OFFICERECOVERY_TMP to set the directory where Recovery for SQL Server should store its temporary files. Use the method shown above to add/edit environment variable.
Is there any way to run Recovery for SQL Server from command line (through Windows Start -> Run menu)?
Yes, you can easily run Recovery for SQL Server from command line and use it in your batch sceneries. The format for this call is:
msr.exe <original filename with path> "<path to directory to store the recovered file(s)>"
(without angle brackets).
Please, note that the directory for recovered file(s) should be created before starting the recovery!
Command line mode supports patterns ‘*’ (replaces group of symbols) and ‘?’ (replaces one symbol).
After running Recovery for SQL Server on the corrupted Microsoft SQL database, a folder with sql script(s) and batch file has been created. How could these files be transfigured into a new Microsoft SQL database? To recreate Microsoft SQL database, process resulting sql scripts starting with schema.sql and following by dataNNNN.sql. The Microsoft SQL database will be recreated from scratch. To make the import procedure more convenient for the end-user an appropriate batch file is automatically created and put in the same folder as sql script(s).
The corrupted Microsoft SQL database consists of a large number of records. Is there a way to set the number of sql scripts that Recovery for SQL Server creates during recovery session?
Recovery for SQL Server creates equal or less than 9999 sql scripts. By default, each script contains 2000 lines. To change the maximum size of the split script(s), set the MaxLines system registry value (type REG_DWORD) in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Recoveronix\MSSQLRecovery key.
The sql scripts created by Recovery for SQL Server during recovery session reject to execute. Is there a workaround for this problem?
It is necessary to distinguish scripts that re-create the recovered database structure (schema.sql) and scripts that contain the data from the original corrupted database (dataNNNN.sql, where NNNN is the consecutive data portion number).
If the schema.sql script rejects to launch automatically, this could be caused by some database structure damages and should not be considered to be a big problem as this script can be executed manually.
If any of the dataNNNN.sql scripts gets errors while executing, then a data recovery problem must have occurred. In this case it is recommended to contact our support team with detailed description of the problem.
When trying to execute the commit.bat file created by Recovery for SQL Server I receive the error which claims that isql.exe utility cannot be found. What should I use instead of missing program?
This could happen if you are using SQL Server 2005. The isql.exe and osql.exe utilities are replaced by sqlcmd.exe in this release. To execute our batch file and recreate database automatically, please, do the following: create a link to the sqlcmd.exe called isql.exe and rerun commit.bat file. Alternatively, you can edit the batch file manually to make it use sqlcmd.exe instead of isql.exe.
About sqlcmd.exe on Microsoft.com:
I have 3 Microsoft SQL databases in hand: MDF, NDF, LDF. Which one should I use to recover my database information?
- MDF is for SQL Server Master Database File
- NDF is for SQL Server Secondary Data File
- LDF is for SQL Server Transaction Log File
Recovery for SQL Server requires MDF file to recover Microsoft SQL database. If you don't have an MDF, there's no way to restore your data.
In case you have an NDF, please, place it in the same directory as MDF before processing with data recovery: Recovery for SQL Server will use it to improve the quality of recovery as much as possible.
LDF file is not necessary at all.
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