The MSD2D site at http://www.msd2d.com
has a few documented SharePoint Technology Tips that provide file-restore solutions
through the Microsoft SQL Server SharePoint content databases. Dennis Moxley
provides one of these tips in "Item Level Restore in a Document Library"
(http://msd2d.com/content/tip_viewitem_03noauth.aspx?id=18b3b9d7-bcd4-465f-9bd7-8ece0bd1e9bc§ion=sharepoint),
which describes restoring a document through a SQL Server backup. Using SQL
Server backup can be a more effective approach for backing up and restoring
portal content as it gives you more flexibility in the management of the content
directly from the databases. (You’ll have to register with MSD2D to see
this and other tips on the MSD2D site.)
In this approach, Moxley explains how to identify the location of files within
the Doc database table by using an SQL query that you run against the backed-up
SharePoint site database. Then he tells you how to build a new query that adds
the content back to a production content database. You can append the query
results to the production site database's Doc table by using SQL Server Enterprise
Manager's Import Data feature. As Moxley points out, you'll need to create additional
configurations to get a SharePoint document-library list view to recognize the
file restore.
You can also find a similar approach on the MSD2D site in Carlos Montilla
and Jim Beam’s "File Level Restore" tip (http://msd2d.com/content/tip_viewitem_03.aspx?section=sharepoint&category=administration&id=6fbc9145-cc08-4a5b-a7d7-14b37e014672).
This is an automated approach to content recovery that gives you precise control
of the backup and restore process. Montilla and Beam's approach provides a holding
table with triggers and stored procedures to do what Moxley suggests in the
first tip. These are effective approaches to file restores; however, they map
directly to the database schema of the SharePoint site, which Microsoft could
alter in a future update to SharePoint Portal Server.