It's a hard problem. Master Data Services are supposed to solve a small part of this in 2008 R2, but really just for data.

For the tables, I can't think of...

You can use sa to connect, or the DAC if it's enabled.

There's also this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207004.aspx

The problem is how do they know what fields are out there? What if they need more fields? Do they need to add them to your master table first? Is...

The format is not published, you would not necessarily be able to get to all the data, so it's still a silly question. SQL Server is built to work with...

Thanks for the update.

Someone must have changed something for the service, or the AD accounts.

Set it to expire today, check tomorrow? Change the server date/time?

You can't get the data without a tool. Even if you stop the server, and open the data files with notepad, you're using a tool. It's a stupid question.

SQL Server...

Not sure I agree with that. If I spend 3 hours talking to the person to walk through solving issues, seeing how they think, give them a computer, etc., you'll...

That's what you're doing, just starting the format in a particular place.

Have you read this: http://sqlcat.com/whitepapers/archive/2009/05/11/disk-partition-alignment-best-practices-for-sql-server.aspx

A few of you have noted that an intelligent interview is needed. I think that is part of the problem. I used the word "test", but didn't mean a multiple...

James Stover (7/2/2010)

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I'm a believer in contract-to-hire. It gives everyone a chance to "kick the tires" and if it doesn't work out, you cut your losses. Oh sure, the contractor...

Part of a problem I see with the whole process is that there aren't good guidelines. No criteria that describe how we pick things.

We did get some "B-listers" in Denny...

I haven't done it, but I have a friend that shut down SQL, copied everything off, repartitioned the disks, copied back, restart SQL (or detach/attach the dbs)

Why would you want to mask this in a backup file? What if you have a disaster? What if you need to restore? You need that data in a backup.

If...

A few more links:

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/517/

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost943727.aspx