Sql-server – Restore DB Backup with limited amount of disk space

disk-spacerestoresql server

I want to restore a SQL Server database using a backup (.bak) of about 60GB.

Is it possible to do this on a machine with only 100GB of free disk space?

Or do I need at least the 60GB for the .bak file and the 60GB for the final database on SQL Server?

Are there any ways of just copying the .bak file into the server?

Network shares are not visible in the SSMS – only local drives like USB devices.

Best Answer

SQL Server need to create the database with the size it had when the backup was produced. No way around that.

You can possibly have the backup file on a different machine and restore using an UNC path to that machine. Something like

RESTORE DATABASE myDB FROM DISK = '\\server\share\db.bak'

Above assumes that the service account for the SQL Server service has permissions on the backup share/file.

But, again, investigate what size each database file had when the backup was produced using RESTORE FILELISTONLY - that is the size the files will be created with.