Sql-server – Get SSMS to show the time a query completed at

In the SQL world, order is not an inherent property of a set of data. Thus, you get no guarantees from your RDBMS that your data will come back in a certain order -- or even in a consistent order -- unless you query your data with an ORDER BY clause.

From Craig Freedman:

Combining TOP with ORDER BY adds determinism to the set of rows returned. Without the ORDER BY, the set of rows returned depends on the query plan and may even vary from execution to execution.

Always use ORDER BY if you expect a well-defined and consistent order in your result set. Never rely on how your database may store the rows on disk (e.g. via a clustered index) to guarantee a certain ordering of data in your queries.

Assuming we're talking about a full or differential backup, a marker is placed at the start of the backup process. At the end of the backup process, any transactions that committed during the process are rolled forward into the backup. Any transactions that are not completed are marked as rolled back within the backup. So, the short answer to your question is, all completed transactions from the beginning to the end of the backup process. During a restore operation, the final step is the cleanup of these transactions.