This is a sponsored article and was made possible by Recovery Toolbox. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence, even when a post is sponsored.
If you rely on a database for your business, losing that data could be catastrophic. Regular backups are important, but sometimes things happen that we can’t plan on. If your database becomes corrupted, you need to be able to fix it.
The folks at Recovery Toolbox specialize in exactly this sort of thing. Not only does the company provide recovery software for Microsoft Office and other productivity tools, but database recovery software as all. If you use Microsoft SQL Server, you’ll want to have Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server handy in case something goes wrong.
System Requirements
Recovery Toolbox doesn’t list any hardware requirements for this software. Obviously, the faster your computer, the faster the software will run. That said, you should be able to run this software on most recent computers without issue.
When it comes to software requirements, most versions of Windows are supported. This includes Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 / 8.1, and Windows 10. Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, and 2016 are supported as well.
In addition to running the above versions of Windows, you’ll want to be running one of the support versions of Microsoft SQL Server. We’ll look at this in the next section.
Features
Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server supports most versions of Microsoft SQL Server, assuming your version was made between now and the year 2000. These versions include Microsoft SQL Server 7, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2014, and 2016.
This software can recover several types of data from Microsoft SQL Server databases. This includes table data, views, stored procedures, custom functions, indexes, primary and foreign keys, and more. It can also recover databases split into multiple files, with the .mdf and .ndf file extensions.
One of the most important features of Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server is its preview function. This lets you see what data is recoverable from your database. This also lets you choose which data you want to recover. In some cases, you don’t want to or need to recover everything, so being able to preview and choose what you need is very handy.
Once you’ve chosen which data to recover, you can choose how to save it. You can save the recovered data as SQL scripts on your hard drive or export the data directly to a new database.
Using Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server
Like much of the other software from Recovery Toolbox, this software works in a “wizard” format. To get started, you’ll first need to download and install the software from the Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server website.
Once the software is installed, it will automatically launch. You can either activate the software now if you’ve already purchased it or take care of this step later.
To get started, choose the file you wish to recover. Once you’ve selected the file, hit Next.
The software will take a few moments to analyze the file to see what information is recoverable. Once it has finished, you can preview the data to see what can be recovered. If you’re happy with what is available for recovery, select Next.
Now you need to select how you wish to save the data. This can be as a script or set of scripts on your hard drive or you can export to another database. Choose next and select the data you wish to recover if you don’t want to save everything. Once you’ve selected everything you wish to save, choose Start Recovery.
Pricing
Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server is available via a few different pricing options. If you’re using the software exclusively for personal reasons, you can opt for the Personal License. This costs $99 and is only valid for noncommercial uses.
If you’re using the software in enterprise, commercial, or governmental environments, you’ll need a Business License, which is available for $149. If you want to install the software on several machines, you’ll want the Site License. This costs $300 but allows you to install the software on up to 100 different machines, either in the same building or spread across multiple buildings.
Conclusion
Like much of the software that Recovery Toolbox develops and distributes, you’ll know whether this is for you based on what it does alone. In our testing the software worked exactly as described and successfully fixed all the database files we used with it. We’re sure it’s possible that files can be so corrupted that this may not be able to repair them, but it probably isn’t likely.
Fortunately, you don’t have to buy the software only to find out that it doesn’t work. A free trial of Recovery Toolbox for SQL Server is available. This lets you see if the software is capable of recovering your data first, then you can purchase the software in order to complete the recovery.
Kris Wouk is a writer, musician, and whatever it’s called when someone makes videos for the web.
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