For a long time I’ve wanted a tool to produce ‘MySQL-type’ scripts (backup) for SQL Server – i.e. a text file with all data written as INSERT INTO statements.
I don’t really like the backup function in Enterprise Manager/SQL Studio because it stores all data as a large binary file, and it seems like overkill sometimes. With a text file of INSERT statements I feel more in control, and as a bonus you don’t need special privileges for the DB login (except for being able to read the data/meta-data).
Here is a tool that can do this – released by Microsoft (on CodePlex)
SQL Server Hosting Toolkit / Database Publishing Wizard
The tool is really meant for generating a script for use with Hosted Servers – but I primarily use it for backups. It is also integrated with Visual Studio.
