Microsoft® SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Restoring a Transaction Log

Transaction log restores deserve special attention because of their dependency on other backup types. Typical transaction log restores occur after a full or differential database restore has occurred. After this base is established, the transaction log restores must be done in the same sequential order as the backups that were taken.

Fortunately, SSMS does a good job of presenting the available backups in the order in which they must be applied. You can do the entire restore sequence with SSMS, including a full restore followed by a restore of any other backups, including transaction log backups. To restore transaction log backups (independent of other backups), you can select the Restore Transaction Log option. This ...