FIX: Restore Filegroup Allowed After Truncating the Transaction Log

Restoring a filegroup backup after truncating the transaction log may leave the database in a logically inconsistent state.

After removing the active portion of the transaction log, such as using BACKUP LOG WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY, a RESTORE operation using the FILEGROUP option may be allowed under certain conditions.

The problem occurs if you perform the following steps:

1. Your attempt to restore a filegroup backup fails with this error:
   Server: Msg 3159, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
   The tail of the log for database '%ls' has not been backed up. Back up the log and rerun the RESTORE statement specifying the FILE clause.
   Server: Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
   Backup or restore operation terminating abnormally.
2. You then issue a BACKUP LOG WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY.
3. You may now successfully restore the filegroup backup.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server 7.0. This problem has been corrected in U.S. Service Pack 2 for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:For more information, contact your primary support provider.