question

Back up the old database and restore it as something else? Or restore from the old backup into another database rather than overwrite the existing? Either way, if your intention is to merge the two together, you'll need to write some code to do that.

USE [master] GO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Create a backup of your database and verify it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BACKUP DATABASE MyDatabase TO DISK='C:\Backups\MyDatabase.bak' WITH COPY_ONLY, COMPRESSION, STATS=10; GO RESTORE VERIFYONLY FROM DISK='C:\Backups\MyDatabase.bak' WITH STATS=10; GO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Rename your database as OLD (to keep the data for review) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXECUTE sp_renamedb N'MyDatabase', N'MyDatabase_OLD'; GO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Rename the files as well, so you don't accidentally delete the wrong one. --This is a logical change. You still have to actually rename the files. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALTER DATABASE MyDatabase_OLD MODIFY FILE (NAME = MyDatabase_Dat, FILENAME = N'C:\Data\MSSQL\Data\MyDatabase_OLD.mdf'); GO ALTER DATABASE MyDatabase_OLD MODIFY FILE (NAME = MyDatabase_log, FILENAME = N'C:\Data\MSSQL\Data\MyDatabase_OLD_log.ldf'); GO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Take the "OLD" database offline so you can rename the files. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALTER DATABASE [MyDatabase_OLD] SET OFFLINE GO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> Here is where you move and/or rename the files: mdf and ldf to new names. --> You can use Windows File Explorer or your favorite file management tool. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Bring the OLD database ONLINE so you can access it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALTER DATABASE [MyDatabase_OLD] SET ONLINE GO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --RESTORE MyDatabase from the backup you made. Files will go into the original names. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RESTORE DATABASE MyDatabase FROM DISK='C:\Backups\MyDatabase.bak' WITH STATS=10; GO

There are two options to backup the database 1. Append to the existing backup set 2. Overwrite all existing backup set