clintonG (3/20/2013)
Not to my foreknowledge but I may actually be trying to do a trick niavely as my intent to locate the mdf/ldf files at My Documents > My Data is to try to ensure the files get backed up. I was thinking if there was a problem they could easily be restored using an Attach.
No, no, no, no!!
Copying files is not a SQL Server backup. At best it gets you a DB that you can reattach, at worse it gets you a DB that refuses to reattach because it's inconsistent.
The way to take SQL backups is via BACKUP DATABASE ... TO DISK ... and have that resulting backup file taken off to other storage. Do Not make the common mistake of thinking that you can copy the file of an active, in-use SQL database and you have a working backup. That's Russian roulette with your database.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability