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Restoring Files and Folders/Directories
Supported Wildcard Expressions
Methods of Restoring Data using Wildcard Expressions
Wildcard expressions can be used to restore file system data, to. This function provides the ability to restore files and/or folders/directories that have a common naming convention. For example, msde2.txt and msj4j.txt.
When restoring directories, if a wildcard pattern that matches the name of a directory was specified, the system restores the directory, but none of the directory's contents. For example, if the wildcard restore string is tem?, the system restores any and all data named with a four-character string starting with the letters t, e, and m. If a directory name satisfies the wild card condition (e.g., sys:\temp) then only the directory would be restored; however, none of the files or any subdirectories contained therein are restored.
See Supported Wildcard Characters for a list of wildcards supported by the restore operation.
Note that a combination of wildcards in a single expression (e.g., access?.h*) can also be used. If the expression is specified by itself, without a path (*.txt), the system searches for and returns all data within the backup set that satisfies the expression. By preceding the expression with a path, the scope of the restored data can be narrowed. For example, specifying sys:\data\*.txt, would restore only those files and directories within the sys:\data directory with extensions of .txt.
In addition to specifying the data to be restored using the wildcard expressions, the system allows you to also select specific data to restore. This is known as a mixed mode restore. Both the selected data as well as the data that satisfies the wildcard expression(s) is restored, with one important exception. All directories that are to be restored, whether they were specifically named or selected, or merely satisfy the wildcard expression(s) are restored without their content. That is, any directory to be restored is handled in the same way as if the directory was being restored as a result of a wildcard expression.
The system provides two methods of using wildcard characters to restore data. They are:
This method of restoring data is fast because you do not have to browse the backup data first.
This method of restoring data uses the browse feature. This method is helpful when you are uncertain of the organization of data that you want to restore.