Things You'll Need:
- Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 2005 (other versions may work as well)
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Step 1
First open up Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the server that you wish to restore your database to.
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Step 2
In the 'Object Explorer', navigate to the 'Databases' folder. Right click on the databases folder and choose 'Restore Database...'
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Step 3
In the 'Destination for restore' section of the window that pops up, find the 'To database:' field. In this field you want to type the name that you want to call your restored database. In many cases you will not want to name this the same as your current database or it will overwrite it.
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Step 4
In the 'To a point in time:' field choose which point in time you would like to restore the database to. This field allows you to only restore data and changes up through a certain date if necessary. It makes use of the transaction log to do this so you can only restore within the limits of what your transaction log contains.
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Step 5
In the 'Source for restore' section of the window select which database you wish to restore. If you are restoring from a backup choose the 'From device:' option and use the '...' button and then click the 'Add' button to navigate to the location of the backup. Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio automatically opens up to the default backup save location so if you've saved your backup there it should be easy to find. If not simply navigate to the backup. All backups should have the .bak extension.
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Step 6
Then in the section where it says 'Select the backup sets to restore:' choose the backup from the time frame you wish to restore by selecting the appropriate check box next to that backup (applicable only if you have made more than one backup of that database to the same name). If you scroll to the right, you will see start and finish date columns that will help you determine which backup to restore.
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Step 7
Click the 'OK' button and SQL Server Management Studio does the rest!
