Hello guys,

A week ago I posted this question: - Sql Server in Stand by mode? Really? Help!?!.

It was about the difficulty I was encountering with restoring Sql Server 2005 Transaction Logs to my 2008 Sql Server database. We are trying to keep our Sql Server 2008 database in sync with our client's 2005 database. Replication isn't really an option with these guys so I thought I would try Sql Server's Stand-by database mode which allows one to Restore a full back-up and also allows one to keep restoring subsequent transaction logs to said database all-the-while allowing our users READ-ONLY access to our DB.

Problem is when I tried to apply the first transaction log (after restoring the full backup), I got this error:"This backup cannot be restored using with standby because a database upgrade is needed....."; An error that implies that I cannot apply a Sql Server 2005 transaction log to a Sql Server 2008 database in Stand-By mode, unless our Clients 2005 database is upgraded (which is clearly not happening).

A worst-case solution scenario would have me build another Sql Server instance (2005 this time) and work with that, However I heard that a Sql Server 2008 database can be created in "backward compatibility" mode to emulate all the functionalities and characteristics of a Sql Server 2005 database. Is this true, and if so how do I do this? Will Sql Server then allow me to apply said transaction log files in stand-by mode?

Please help