Using load database with norecovery

The with norecovery option of the load database command allows a database dump to be loaded into an archive database without recovering anything, reducing the time required to load.

Many database pages can be modified or allocated during recovery, causing them to be stored in the modified pages section. Therefore, skipping recovery consumes minimum space in the modified pages section. The with norecovery option allows a quick view into an archive database.

If you use with norecovery, the database is brought online automatically.

However, using load database with norecovery for a database that requires recovery may leave it transactionally and physically inconsistent. Running dbcc checks on a physically inconsistent database may produce many errors.

Once you have loaded an archive database with norecovery, you must have sa_role or database owner privileges to use it.