Dynamics GP - How to backup and restore a GP company

These steps assume you have a second identical backup server already setup, and the only difference between the two servers is the age of the data. Complications arise if there are different users/passwords or software versions. Refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/878449 for full instructions related to migrating databases to another server.

1. Ensure all users log out of the live company, or run the script to remove all users and remove all locks ( http://cowmasterscorner.blogspot.com/2011/11/dynamics-gp-remove-all-session-and.html)
2. Backup the existing databases from SQL Management Studio, 
1. log in to your live server
2. right click on the DYNAMICS database
3. Select tasks>backup
4. By the destination box, tick "disk" and remove the current location (you can leave this if it has the correct location for your backup)
5. Click add to add a new location for the backup, select the location
6. Click on options
7. Tick overwrite all existing backup sets (if you do not do this, if the backup already exists, it will append another backup to that file)
8. Repeat this process for each of your company databases
3. Restore the databases to your backup server
1. Log in to your backup server
2. right click on the DYNAMICS database
3. Select tasks>restore>database
4. Select from device, click the lookup, and select your backup file
5. Click add to add a new location for the backup, select the location
6. Click on options
7. Tick overwrite the existing database with replace
8. Under the restore as fields, you can change the name and location of the database files if you wish to. Leaving the default will restore the files to the default location.

Full instructions relating to moving databases to another server can be found here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/878449