Tip & Tool #1:
Restore a single SharePoint file from backup

While full SharePoint databases can be backed up and restored fairly easily, restoring a single file from a backup can be a much of a challenge. Often, you will end up having to restore the entire database just to get to the one file you need.

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How to restore a single SharePoint file from backup:

The following steps are steps to execute a backup and restore of a single file. Steps and procedures may vary depending on what is trying to be achieved.

First: Use this procedure to schedule a task that will create the backup archive to later enable you to restore individual SharePoint files.

1. On a computer that has SharePoint running start Windows Task Scheduler by:
   1. Click Start and select Control Panel
   2. In Control Panel, click on Scheduled Tasks and select Add Scheduled Task.
   
    
2. Selecting Add Scheduled Task, will start the Scheduled Task Wizard. The wizard will add a scheduled task that will run backups as often as you wish.
   1. Click Next on the first page of the Scheduled Task Wizard.
   2. Click Browse, go to %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\Bin, and then double-click Stsadm.exe.
   3. Select how often you want this task to run, and then click Next.
   4. Select a time to run the schedule, and then click Next.
   5. Enter credentials with sufficient privilege to run the task on a scheduled basis and access to run backups in SharePoint, and then click Next.
   6. Select the Open advanced properties when I click finish check box, and then click Finish. A dialog box appears.
   
    
3. Next you will be able to define parameters for Stsadm.exe when running the backup. Stsadm.exe is quite extensive; this particular backup command will execute a site collection backup.
   1. On the Task tab, in the Run box, type "%SystemDrive%\Program files\Common files\Microsoft shared\Web server extensions\12\Bin\Stsadm.exe" -o backup –url Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.yoursite -filename c:\backup\site.bak –overwrite, where:
      1. http://companyweb/–url defines the URL of your top level site you wish to backup
      2. –filename defines a valid name for your site collection backup file
      3. Overwrite will overwrite any existing previous backup files. Click OK.
   2. After you click OK, a dialog box appears, prompting you to enter administrator credentials with rights to execute a backup in SharePoint.
   
    

Second: Restore SharePoint files from existing backup files:

1. Locate the backup file you would like to restore.
    
2. Start by creating a new site and a new content DB for the restore. To proceed:
   1. Click Start and Run or open the Command Prompt
   2. Type "%SystemDrive%\Program files\Common files\Microsoft shared\Web server extensions\12\Bin\Stsadm.exe" -o createsiteinnewdb -url http://yoursite/sites/MyRestoredSite -ownerlogin DOMAIN\administrator -owneremail administrator@DOMAIN.local -databasename STS_RESTORE, where:
      1. –createsiteinnewdb creates a site at the specified URL and also a new content database, using the user id and password provided
      2. –url is a valid URL name for your new web app
      3. –ownerlogin is a valid Windows user name, and must be qualified with a domain name
      4. –owneremail is a valid email address
      5. –databasename is a valid Microsoft SQL Server database name to host the newly created site
   3. Press ENTER.
   
    
3. To restore a single file from an existing backup file, you will need to restore the entire backup file to a new location. To proceed:
   1. Open the Command Prompt and type "%SystemDrive%\Program files\Common files\Microsoft shared\Web server extensions\12\Bin\Stsadm.exe" -o restore -url http://yoursite/Sites/MyRestoredsite -filename c:\backup\site.bak -overwrite, where:
      1. –url define a valid URL, an existing URL just created in step 2 above
      2. –filename define the same path\filename (c:\backup\site.bak) where you have saved your backup file you wish to restore
      3. –overwrite to overwrite an existing restore file
   
    
4. After the restore is successful, open the site to look for the file you wish to recover. To proceed:
   1. Open IE. In the address bar, type http://yoursite/Sites/MyRestoredsite.
   2. In the newly restored site, search for the file you wish to recover.
   3. Right-click on the file, select Save Target As, and then select a location to which to save the file.
   
    
5. Congratulations. You have now completed all steps to recover a single file in SharePoint.

For more information on all Stsadm.exe parameters, please refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263441.aspx.