Restoring BCM .MDF file

[Ickford Andrew]

After reformating my disc (Windows 7) I loaded Outlook 2010.
I then tried to link to my old MDF (BCM 2007) file but it wont even
recognise it exists.
Suspect this might be related to changes in the MDF file from 2007.
Any suggestions would really be appreciated?

 

[Hao Zhou (MSFT)]

After reformating my disc (Windows 7) I loaded Outlook 2010.
I then tried to link to my old MDF (BCM 2007) file but it wont even
recognise it exists.
Suspect this might be related to changes in the MDF file from 2007.
Any suggestions would really be appreciated?

One thing you can do to restore the backup database on a computer, and
then
write down all the info by hand, and then restore the current
database,
and manually enter all the info,

OR

(advanced!)
depending on how much data you have in your database, and if anyone on
your
team is familiar with xml, this might work. First, restore the old
database with
the lost data (make sure your current is backed up. Then delete all
the projects that you
DONT need restored, and then export your data (be sure that activities
and
projects are checked, and customization is NOT checked). Then, edit
that
exported *.bcm file directly (its just xml), and look for everything
between
the FIRST "<Project>" and the LAST "</Project>". Copy that text
somewhere,
and delete everything in the file EXCEPT for the very first and last
line,
and replace with the text you had copied. It should look like
something
below:

<BCMEntities ........>
<Project>
.......
</Project>
</BCMEntities>

Now take that file, and after restoring you current database, import
it. All your lost
projects should be back, without any other pieces of your old data.

 

[Hao Zhou (MSFT)]

After reformating my disc (Windows 7) I loaded Outlook 2010.
I then tried to link to my old MDF (BCM 2007) file but it wont even
recognise it exists.
Suspect this might be related to changes in the MDF file from 2007.
Any suggestions would really be appreciated?

Sorry, I answered the wrong question. Here is your answer:

The issue is that mdf is a backup of SQL, not of BCM.

The correct way to migrate from BCM 2007 to 2010 is to export all your
data
in BCM 2007 using BCM's menu options (export, not backup). Then, in
2010,
import. BCM will be able to read the 2007 format and migrate all your
data.

Of course, the troublesome aspect of this is, of course, you will need
to
reinstall Outlook & BCM 2007 first so you can export, but it is the
only way.

Any computer running BCM 2007 will do, if you happen to have it still
installed on another
machine. You just need to connect to the database and export the data
in the
*.bcm format.