If you’ve been following my T-SQL Snapshot Backup series, most of what I’ve covered requires SQL Server to participate in the snapshot: the write IO freeze, the metadata backup, the coordinated workflow. This post covers the other side of that coin: crash-consistent cloning. No write freeze. No backup. No point-in-time recovery. Just a raw volume clone that SQL Server recovers from automatically when you attach it.
What Is a Crash-Consistent Snapshot?
When people talk about snapshot backups for SQL Server, they often jump straight to application-consistent snapshots, the kind where SQL Server is asked to freeze write IO before the snapshot. That freeze guarantees every page on disk reflects a logically consistent database state.