Read Backup File Directly?

Is there a way to read a backup file to see if it contains a file without
restoring the backup file? We are missing a record from a table, and I need
to find out when it was deleted. We have nightly backup files of the
database. Is it possible, knowing the database name, the table name, and the
primary key value of the record, to determine if the record exists in a
certain backup file? If not, is there an alternate way to determine when a
particular record was deleted?

Thank you!

NeilNeil (nospam@.nospam.net) writes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Is there a way to read a backup file to see if it contains a file
without restoring the backup file?

You can use RESTORE FILELISTONLY to list the backups within a backup file.

Quote:

Originally Posted by

We are missing a record from a table, and I need to find out when it was
deleted. We have nightly backup files of the database. Is it possible,
knowing the database name, the table name, and the primary key value of
the record, to determine if the record exists in a certain backup file?

You need to restore the backup. But you could restore it under a different
name.

--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@.sommarskog.se
Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...oads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodin...ions/books.mspx|||Right. I was just that, if I wanted to find out *when* it was deleted, I'd
have to restore the backups one at a time, and look at the database after
each restore to see if it were there.

Thanks,

Neil

"Erland Sommarskog" <esquel@.sommarskog.sewrote in message
news:Xns9955EDFCA1AF8Yazorman@.127.0.0.1...

Quote:

Originally Posted by

Neil (nospam@.nospam.net) writes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by

>Is there a way to read a backup file to see if it contains a file
>without restoring the backup file?

>
You can use RESTORE FILELISTONLY to list the backups within a backup file.
>

Quote:

Originally Posted by

>We are missing a record from a table, and I need to find out when it was
>deleted. We have nightly backup files of the database. Is it possible,
>knowing the database name, the table name, and the primary key value of
>the record, to determine if the record exists in a certain backup file?

>
You need to restore the backup. But you could restore it under a different
name.
>
>
--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@.sommarskog.se
>
Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...oads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodin...ions/books.mspx