text: Q:
  
  Restore a specific file group to a test environment without restoring the Primary file group (Error 3154)
  
  Scenario. 
  
  I have a filegroup that we need to restore to get data back that has
  been removed from the database after the last backup I cannot touch
  The production systems because they are running
  The primary filegroup is just over 1TB in size (don't blame me I didn't do that and it makes me want to cry)
  I don't have anywhere large enough to restore that Primary filegroup
  The filegroup I wish to restore is only 60 GB in size
  I simply need the data from one table out of the filegroup
  The system is all in a remote location so the backup can not be removed from there and potentially loaded elsewhere
  I have a test 'copy' of the database, but that is generated through scripts and is 1/1000 of the size but contains all the same tables etc as the main database, just next to none of the data content
  I only need to restore from the full backup
  
  Code Sample
  RESTORE DATABASE testEnvironment
  filegroup = 'requiredFileGroup'
  from disk = 
  N'\\remotestorage\backupfile.bak'
  with REPLACE,
  move
  N'requiredFileGroup_file1' to N'F:\requiredFileGroup_file1.ndf',
  move
  N'requiredFileGroup_file2' to N'F:\requiredFileGroup_file2.ndf',
  stats = 1
  
  Issues
  
  When trying to restore I get the error 3154 
  
  The backup set holds a backup of a database other than the existing 'testEnvironment' database.
  
  This occurs when trying to restore to a new file location, or overwriting the files that currently exist in the test environment
  As mentioned the Primary Filegroup is too large to be restored anywhere
  
  Any ideas on a work around for this would be greatly appreciated
  Ste
  
  A:
  
  Well, sad to say you can't do a piecemeal restore and bring a secondary filegroup online without the primary being online first. If there is a hack to get around this I am not aware of it.
  If your primary filegroup is at 1TB and you are not using it, why not just do a one time shrink to a more manageable size? This is not uncommon to do in production environments where a large amount of data may have been purged and you want to reclaim the space. As well, if you have no ability to test your backups your are in a far worse situation.
  
  