In addition to backing up master regularly, keep offline copies of the contents of the following system tables: sysdatabases, sysdevices, sysusages, sysloginroles, and syslogins. Do this by using the bcp utility described in the Utility Guide, and by storing a printed copy of the contents of each system table. You can create a printed copy by printing the output of the following queries:
select * from sysusages order by vstart select * from sysdatabases select * from sysdevices select * from sysloginroles select * from syslogins
If you have copies of these tables, and a hard disk crash or some other disaster makes your database unusable, you will be able to use the recovery procedures described in Chapter 29, “Restoring the System Databases.”
You should also keep copies of all data definition language (DDL) scripts for user objects, as described under “Keeping records”.
