The SharePoint databases are whatever they were named upon creation. Your best bet is to restore the entire backup onto another system, (create a virtual one if you can) and then simply do a SQL backup of the relevant databases. Once you have the needed databases, you can blow away the system and then restore those databases to your new SQL instance and reattach them to SharePoint.Imagine what we could be...if we could just imagine. | Daniel A. Galant | Sr. SharePoint Solutions Architect EPC Group.net

Yes, it was all on one box. It was WSS 3.0 that was on the box. A second box was purchased and SharePoint 2010 was loaded onto it, along with Exchange 2010. Most, but not all, of the files in WSS were moved over. We didn't want Exchange and SharePoint to be on the same box, so after a full backup of the box that had WSS, we wiped it and began to prep it for Exchange. So right now, the full backup is still on an external HD. I was the one that realized that we had missed some files, which is why I'm looking for a way to restore them. Once I find the data files, I'm not entirely sure how to restore them, either (I'm still learning, here!) EDIT: I found this article http://www.ungertech.com/dbrestore.html that looks pretty straightforward. I'm still looking for the MSSQL database for SharePoint...I'm wondering if it was moved at one point before I was here. What is the exact name of the folder? Is it something like MSSQL.1?

The SharePoint databases are whatever they were named upon creation. Your best bet is to restore the entire backup onto another system, (create a virtual one if you can) and then simply do a SQL backup of the relevant databases. Once you have the needed databases, you can blow away the system and then restore those databases to your new SQL instance and reattach them to SharePoint.Imagine what we could be...if we could just imagine. | Daniel A. Galant | Sr. SharePoint Solutions Architect EPC Group.net

The server was wiped a week or so after the full backup was made. In the c:\program files\microsoft SQL server folder, there are only two visible folders '80' and '90'. I do not see a MSSQL10.<instance name> folder. This is where the data would be kept, correct? Why wouldn't the folder be included in the backup, while the other two were?

This is a pre-SharePoint 2010 forum.Imagine what we could be...if we could just imagine. | Daniel A. Galant | Sr. SharePoint Solutions Architect EPC Group.net

So SQL was on the same box as SharePoint? Did you simply do a restore from your backup or did you do a clean new install?Imagine what we could be...if we could just imagine. | Daniel A. Galant | Sr. SharePoint Solutions Architect EPC Group.net

OK good, that's what I was thinking I should do. It's tough because I was not around when SharePoint and SQL were set up, so as I'm looking for the mdf and ldf files, I'm not finding the default names that I'm expecting. I'm thinking (since our current SharePoint is 2010), the easiest way to restore the files is to create a new WSS website, detach the DBs and then attach my recovered DBs? Thanks for the help!

Just restore the old system. Backup the content databases that belong to SharePoint, just the content ones. then simply restore those to your new SQL and then attach to one of your 2010 web applications. the tricky part comes in if there are any custom templates, solutions etc in the old content.Imagine what we could be...if we could just imagine. | Daniel A. Galant | Sr. SharePoint Solutions Architect EPC Group.net

Hello, We recently took our SharePoint server down and re-built it. Before doing so, we performed a full backup of everything that was on the box. It was Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 that was being run. Is there a way to retrieve the data that was on the SharePoint site from the backup? Where is the content database for the sharepoint site? Thanks, -Dave

HI, The content database resides in your db server. You can get this information from your central admin.Thanks, Rahul Rashu

Hi Please check this http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010setup/thread/40a3438f-490d-4485-805f-14728961c05f