You need either a local or domain user that has local adminsitrative rights on the server the service is going to run on.

In addition, if using mixed mode authentication, and...

Note that none of the system databases (master, msdb, or tempdb) can do transaction log backups because they are in simple recovery mode (i.e. trunc. log on chkpt.) So you...

You are right about xp_fixeddrives. It's an undocumented xp. I thought it would show the drive. Dagnabit!

From a query analyzer window can...

This means that the the SQL server service/agent isn't recognizing the the drives existence.

From a command prompt type NET USE....

What user id is the backup job running under?

What user id is the the SQL Server Agent running under?

My thinking/things to check:

1. The manually created backup job picked the first user...

That would be more of a DTS (Data Transformation Service) than T-SQL.

I suggest you try playing with that - it can read from a text file, do edits (transact sql...

I'm against the idea. Relying on an error to decide on an insert vs update just doesn't seem like the way to do it.

The cost to do a query and...

You have two possible methods.

If you are trying to track on a table you can set triggers on the table and write it to a narc table

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON 
GO
SET...

I agree wholeheartedly.

We have a servicer/vendor supplied database (comes off a mainframe) that has an address table the is separate adress data addr_ln_1, addr_ln_2, city, state, zip with possible multiple...

Are they always double-spaced?

You could try

UPDATE TEST_CUST

SET COMBO_COL = REPLACE(COMBO_COL, ' ', ', ')

Welcome to the asylum. You found this place sooner than I did.

The big one I see in unsnarling your databases is knowing the...

Try puttin quotes around it such as

/EXCLUDE:"\Thumbnails"

Another coudl be

/EXCLUDE:\Thumbnails\*.*

And try to making it the last in the string so that the /S /L is before it.

Are you trying to exclude a directory(ies) named "\Thumbnails\" or the "Thumbs.db" files.

I would try it as just "/S /L /EXCLUDE:\Thumbnails"

Another possibility is to shut down the SQL Server Service, take a physical copy of the .mdf and .ldf and rename them.

Bring up the SQL service and try attaching the...

I'd also look if you are using the same tables.

Could someone have coded as "Char" fields instead of "VarChar"