David.Poole (2/22/2009)
To be honest I am shocked to hear that people don't verify their backups.I'm also surprised that it isn't the default action for a backup and requires a DBA to deselect it if they don't want to verify.
What's worse is that, on 2000 and earlier, verify did very little. It checked the backup headers and a bit more. Passing verification was not a guarantee that the backup could be restored.
Even on 2005 and higher, I think you need to use the Checksum option for a verify check everything. Without that, the only way to check that a backup can be restored is to restore it.
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