What do these Copy Only Backup options mean?

Question

I am currently trying to backup an empty SQL Server 2008 R2 database that I designed for a project that is getting shelved for the time being. I was going through the back up pr

Answer 1

It's a full dump of a database, where you intent to take that dump and load it into some OTHER sql server instance. e.g. It's a nice way of making a complete copy of a DB without having to take down the db, detach the db, copy the .mdf files, re-attach, etc...

Naturally, since you're not using this "backup" as an actual backup, you don't want it to interfere with your normal backup schedules, hence the copy-only functionality. It's a full backup, but will not reset the backup schedule, so your normal next incremental/snapshot backup will work as usual.

This mechanism is necessary since the built-in hotcopy/migration tools in MSSMS are basically useless and can't handle its own databases in many cases.