Most backup tools hand you a proprietary container that only opens with the tool that made it.
DataBK writes through SQL Server’s own Virtual Device Interface and leaves you a
native .bak file — the kind you can restore in SSMS on a machine where our
software was never installed. Every backup set is verified and the database is consistency-checked
on the night the backup runs, so you learn a backup is bad then, not on the morning you need it.
.bak — restorable in SSMS
Backup sets verified automatically
Runs on your own network
One-time licence — no subscription, lifetime updates
Almost nobody loses data because they forgot to schedule a backup. They lose it because the backup they had could not be restored when it mattered. Here is where that goes wrong.
The job said “Success”. Nobody read the log closely enough to notice it was writing to a volume that ran out of space three weeks ago. A backup nobody has opened is a hope, not a backup.
Which full backup? Which differential? Every log in between? Assembling a restore chain by hand, at 3am, from a file listing, is how a two-hour outage becomes a two-day one.
Proprietary containers keep you tied to one vendor — and if that vendor’s licence server, activation, or company disappears, so does your ability to read your own data.
DataBK is a Windows backup and recovery tool built specifically for Microsoft SQL Server. It backs up, it verifies, and it restores — including the part most tools leave to you.
.bak outputBackups are written through SQL Server’s own Virtual Device Interface, so what comes out is a standard backup file that SSMS, RESTORE DATABASE, and any other SQL Server tool will accept directly. No export step, no conversion, no vendor software needed to read it back.
After each run the backup set is verified for readability, and the database can be checked with DBCC CHECKDB as part of the same job. Failures raise an email alert instead of scrolling past in a log file.
Pick the moment you want the database to be at. The software works out which full, differential, and log backups are needed, in which order, and applies them. You can restore over the original database, as a new name, or onto a different machine with relocated files.
Backups can be compressed and encrypted in flight with AES 64-, 128-, or 256-bit keys, so the copy sitting on a share or a removable disk is not readable on its own. Backup files can also be mirrored to a second device in the same job.
Backups are driven by a Windows service rather than a logged-in desktop session, so jobs run overnight and after a reboot. The Agent is started and stopped by SQL Server’s own service control, which means it shuts down cleanly with the instance instead of leaving a half-written file behind.
Everything stays on your network, including the indexes. Backups land wherever you point them — local disk, UNC share, or a second server. There is no account to create and no data of yours passing through our infrastructure.
Three parts, and you only have to think about the first one.
A Windows service that runs on the SQL Server machine and does the actual work. It needs administrator rights to install, because it registers with the SQL Server instance and talks to it as a service.
The desktop console where you define jobs, pick retention rules, watch the last result, and run a restore. One console can manage multiple SQL Server instances.
An optional component for centralising backup files on a dedicated machine instead of scattering them across the database servers. It listens on TCP 6000/6001 by default.
This is the part most product pages fudge, so here it is straight. The previous release was built a long time ago; we are rebuilding it, and we would rather you know exactly where things stand than find out after you pay.
| SQL Server | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 – 2012 | Supported by the last release | Including MSDE and WMSDE, plus Express and Enterprise editions. That build is no longer sold or distributed. |
| 2014 – 2017 | Not covered today | These versions were released after the last update. They are the first gap we intend to close. |
| 2019 | Being tested | SQL Server 2019 changed how backup pages are written. A tool built before that change can appear to back up fine and then fail at restore, so this version gets the most testing effort. |
| 2022 – 2025 | On the roadmap | Target of the rebuild, alongside current Windows Server versions. |
Before anything goes on sale we will publish a compatibility matrix listing the exact SQL Server builds and Windows versions we have actually tested against — not a range we hope works. If you are running SQL Server 2016 or 2017, email us anyway: those are the versions we most want testers for.
One payment of $149. No subscription, no renewal, no expiry, and no features switched off later. Updates are included for the life of the product, not just for the one major version you buy.
These are the planned launch prices. Nothing is on sale yet — the licence types below are what the rebuilt version is being designed around.
.bak outputPrices in USD and include applicable taxes. Payments are processed by Creem as merchant of record. Full terms: Refund Policy.
DataBK SQL Server Backup is being rebuilt for current versions of SQL Server. Email us with the SQL Server version you run and we’ll write back once — when there is a build for you to test.
Email support@databk.comNo. The previous release is no longer sold or distributed, and we are not handing it out while the rebuild is in progress. It was last updated in 2018 and supported SQL Server only up to 2012, and we would rather not put a build in front of you that we are not willing to stand behind.
The job is executed through SQL Server’s Virtual Device Interface, the same documented mechanism SQL Server
uses for its own backups. The result is a standard .bak file. You can restore it with
RESTORE DATABASE in SSMS, on a machine that has never had our software installed, without asking us
for permission or a key.
Yes. The Backup Agent is a Windows service and must run on the machine hosting the SQL Server instance, so installation requires administrator rights there. The Manager console, where you configure jobs and run restores, can run from your own workstation.
No. Backups go to storage you choose — a local volume, a UNC share, or a second server. Database names, sizes, and contents are never sent to us. The only outbound traffic is the email alert on success or failure, sent through a mail server you configure. There is no telemetry and no account.
Your backups and your licence both keep working. Your backups are standard SQL Server backup files on your own storage, and the licence is verified offline against a key — nothing about either depends on our servers, our website, or us continuing to exist. There is no activation server that can go dark and no licence check that has to phone home. That was a deliberate design decision, and it is also why we do not sell a subscription.
No — and we do not offer one. There is a single one-time payment, and it includes updates for the life of the product rather than for one major version. We avoided a subscription on purpose: it would mean your software depending on a licence server of ours staying online, which is exactly the kind of dependency a backup tool should never have.
You shouldn’t, yet — and we are not asking you to. That is exactly why nothing is on sale and why the version support table above lists what is covered and what is not, instead of a comfortable range. When there is a build, we will publish the SQL Server and Windows builds we tested it against, and you can verify a restore yourself before deciding.
Email support@databk.com within 14 days of purchase and we refund it in full, no reason needed. See the Refund Policy.
Nowhere yet — DataBK SQL Server Backup is still in development and there is no public build. Email support@databk.com with your SQL Server version and we will contact you when there is something to test. Released installers will be code-signed and served from this domain.