Problem with importing an mdf created with SQL Server Express 2008 into SQL Server 2005

Question

The question is probably extremely easy to resolve, but I need to resolve it because I need to carry on with my project. I am using SQL Server Express 2008 at home, and I've been working on an ASP.NET MVC app that stores my DB in an mdf file in the project's folder. The problem is that the SQL Server in the Uni labs is SQL Server 2005, and when I try to open the mdf file with the VS Server Explorer,It says that the version of the mdf file is more than the server can accept.

The only option that comes to my mind is exporting the DB as an sql file, just like I've done it thousand times with phpmyadmin. the thing is that the SQL Management Studio Express is not the most usable tool in the world, and for some strange reason all the articles I could find in Google were irrelevant. Please, help.

Answer 1

I haven't used it much, but right click on database -> Tasks... -> Generate Scripts... / Export Data... / Import Data... should do the job right.

Answer 2

Google "Database Publishing Wizard", it's a tool from Microsoft to script an entire database, both schema and data.

Answer 3

you can script your db and its data. then run it on the target server to create a new db that is compatible with 2005 version.

Answer 4

Tools like Red-Gate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare can compare a live database to e.g. a backup file, so you could compare your SQL Server 2005 database against the SQL Server 2008 Express backup file, and move data that way.

Or you could possibly generate INSERT statements for your tables that have changed data using a tool like this one here or this one here. These can generate INSERT scripts for your tables, which you can take along and run on your SQL Server 2005 target system.

Answer 5

It is not possible to attach database created on SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2005. The other direction is possible. Your only option is to script the database and data and run the scripts on SQL 2005. If you have used any of new features of the SQL Server 2008, you will have to rewrite the scripts.