Copying Databases from Earlier Versions of SQL Server

Administering SQL Server

Administering SQL Server

Copying Databases from Earlier Versions of SQL Server

In Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000, you can restore a database backup created using SQL Server version 7.0. You can also use the Copy Database Wizard to copy databases from SQL Server 7.0. For more information, see Using the Copy Database Wizard.

However, backups of the master, model and msdb created using SQL Server 7.0 cannot be restored by SQL Server 2000. Also, it is not possible to restore a database backup created using SQL Server version 6.5 or earlier. Database backups created using SQL Server 6.5 or earlier are in a format incompatible with SQL Server 2000.

You can, however, convert a database created using SQL Server 6.5 or earlier to SQL Server 2000 by doing one of the following:

  • Upgrading to SQL Server 2000.

    Any databases are upgraded automatically. New backups from the upgraded computer running SQL Server can now be restored into another computer running an instance of SQL Server 2000.

  • Using the Data Transformation Services (DTS) Import/Export Wizard to copy data between multiple instances of SQL Server.

  • Using the bcp utility to copy data from a computer running an instance of SQL Server 6.5 or earlier to a data file, and then copy the data from the data file into a computer running an instance of SQL Server 2000.

See Also

DTS Import/Export Wizard

Importing and Exporting Data

Upgrading Databases from SQL Server 6.5 (Upgrade Wizard)