Copy Database Wizard (Select the Transfer Method)

Options

• Use the detach and attach method
  Detach the database from the source server, copy the database files (.mdf, .ndf, and .ldf) to the destination server, and attach the database at the destination server. This method is usually the faster method because the principal work is reading the source disk and writing the destination disk. No SQL Server logic is required to create objects within the database, or create data storage structures. This method can be slower, however, if the database contains a large amount of allocated but unused space. For instance, a new and practically empty database that is created allocating 100 MB, copies the entire 100 MB, even if only 5 MB is full.

  Note

  This method makes the database unavailable to users during the transfer.

• If a failure occurs, reattach the source database
  When a database is copied, the original database files are always reattached to the source server. Use this box to reattach original files to the source database if a database move cannot be completed.

• Use the SQL Management Object method
  Read the definition of each database object on the source database and create each object in the destination database. Then transfer the data from the source table to the destination table, recreating indexes and metadata.

  Note

  Database users can continue to access the database during the transfer.