SQL Server restore data without filegroups

Question

We have a SQL Server database with terabytes of files stored in filegroups. In case of a catastrophic failure we restore a backup (includes data and files) which takes hours to completely restore. We would like to find a way to speed up the restore.

It would be ideal if we could get the database up and running quickly without the files. Then we could restore the files at a later time. Is it possible to backup the database without filegroups, restore the database without filegroups, then restore the filegroups?

I have tried scripting out the database with data, executing the script, and then restoring the filegroups but this did not work.

What are some other solutions that we could implement if this will not work?

Answer 1

It sounds like you have a small amount of critical data that is required to get the business back up and running, then a large amount of non-critical data that can be restored over a long period of time if need be.

Have you considered splitting this into 2 separate databases?

Another option might be to set up replication on the smaller tables so that you maintain a duplicate database of the critical information. You could restore THAT database in DR, then do a full restore and merge when completed.

I'm not sure if Sql Server has a way to pull individual tables from a backup. That might be an option.