Hello,

I came across some documentation on msdn about some backup strategies.
I am pretty new to sql so all that information seems very complicated.

As far as I understood a very simple way to backup the database is to simply copy the mdf and the ldf file to a backup directory, but this could be done safely ONLY if the access to the database is blocked before the backup begins and until it is finished.

Now, I have an application for my company which is like a project organizer and information for each separate project. The database is pretty small and after 4 o clock p.m. the "off peak" period means zero access because everybody goes home. So my database isn't on the internet, it is on a local server and is accessed by 5 to 6 computers. After 4 o'clock there is the possibility to stop any access and make the backup.

Keeping this in mind, is it safe to back up like that or not? If not please explain me why. And if it is safe, is there some code to shut down the sql server and start it up again at runtime? Or is it enough just to stop all the reading / writing operations in my app during backup,without stopping the sql server?

I am using VB2010 express and SQL Server 2008R2.

Thx.