--- title: "Partial Backups (SQL Server) | Microsoft Docs" ms.custom: "" ms.date: "03/14/2017" ms.prod: sql ms.prod_service: backup-restore ms.reviewer: "" ms.technology: backup-restore ms.topic: conceptual helpviewer_keywords: - "full backups [SQL Server]" - "partial backups [SQL Server]" - "READ_WRITE_FILEGROUPS option" - "database backups [SQL Server], about backing up databases" ms.assetid: fe6b6bb1-38d0-46c4-bab8-31df14e8999c author: MikeRayMSFT ms.author: mikeray --- # Partial Backups (SQL Server) [!INCLUDE[appliesto-ss-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-md](../../includes/appliesto-ss-xxxx-xxxx-xxx-md.md)] All [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] recovery models support partial backups, so this topic is relevant for all [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] databases. However, partial backups are designed for use under the simple recovery model to improve flexibility for backing up very large databases that contain one or more read-only filegroups. Partial backups are useful whenever you want to exclude read-only filegroups. A *partial backup* resembles a full database backup, but a partial backup does not contain all the filegroups. Instead, for a read-write database, a partial backup contains the data in the primary filegroup, every read-write filegroup, and, optionally, one or more read-only files. A partial backup of a read-only database contains only the primary filegroup. > [!NOTE] > If a read-only database is changed to read/write after a partial backup, there might be read/write secondary filegroups that are not in the partial backup. In this case, if you try to take a differential partial backup, the backup fails. Before you can take a differential partial backup of the database, you must take another partial backup. The new partial backup contains every read/write secondary filegroup and can serve as the base for differential partial backups. File backups of read-only filegroups can be combined with partial backups. For information about file backups, see [Full File Backups (SQL Server)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/full-file-backups-sql-server.md). A partial backup can serve as the *differential base* for differential partial backups. For more information, see [Differential Backups (SQL Server)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/differential-backups-sql-server.md). ## Related Tasks > [!NOTE] > Partial backups are not supported by [!INCLUDE[ssManStudioFull](../../includes/ssmanstudiofull-md.md)] or the Maintenance Plan Wizard. **To create a partial backup** - [BACKUP (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/statements/backup-transact-sql.md) (READ_WRITE_FILEGROUPS; FILEGROUP option, if needed) **To use a partial backup in a restore sequence** - [Example: Piecemeal Restore of Database (Simple Recovery Model)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/example-piecemeal-restore-of-database-simple-recovery-model.md) - [Example: Piecemeal Restore of Only Some Filegroups (Simple Recovery Model)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/example-piecemeal-restore-of-only-some-filegroups-simple-recovery-model.md) ## See Also [Backup Overview (SQL Server)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/backup-overview-sql-server.md) [File Restores (Simple Recovery Model)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/file-restores-simple-recovery-model.md) [Piecemeal Restores (SQL Server)](../../relational-databases/backup-restore/piecemeal-restores-sql-server.md)