Hi,

our forum server suffered a catastrophic failure, which included the RAID failing too.

I only have the mdf file, no ldf file. I did not unmount the db, or do a single file unmount. I've tried a few things to reattach it, but no joy.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hello Howard,

Yes, you can attach a database with .mdf file but you will loose all the transactions, which have not been committed to the database.

SQL Server will create a new .ldf file when you attach a database with a single file (.mdf).

Syntax for attaching the single file:

sp_attach_single_file_db [ @dbname = ] 'dbname'
    , [ @physname = ] 'physical_name'

Thanks and have a nice day!!!

I tried that already with:

EXEC sp_attach_single_file_db @dbname = 'koiforum',
   @physname = 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$LISTSERVER\data\koiforum_data.mdf'

I get this error:

Server: Msg 1813, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Could not open new database 'koiforum'. CREATE DATABASE is aborted.
Device activation error. The physical file name 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$LISTSERVER\data\KoiForum_Log.LDF' may be incorrect.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Hello Howard,

Are you sure that you have the .mdf file. B'cos in the syntax you are mentioning the .mdf file but the error is pointing that .ldf file is incorrect.

Please go through this article

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/ckempster/deattachandreattachdatabases.asp

Thanks and have a nice day!!!

This is the syntax that I use to attach a DB with only a MDF file:

Exec sp_attach_single_file_db DB_Name, 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\DB_Name_Data.MDF'

Just change the highlighted portions. 

Matt