This article will introduce the meaning of BAK files and how to open them in Windows systems, and provide some additional information about BAK files.

What is a BAK file?

BAK files refer to files with the extension ".bak". It is a backup file that contains detailed information or information related to software systems, database contents, or other files. The most common .bak file is a database backup of SQL Server database, but this does not mean that other programs will not create files with this extension.

The creation of .bak files does not have a standardized format, and this extension is used for any type of backup files. Therefore, every program that creates .bak files can decide how to format them. Likewise, there are no standard programs for extracting/importing information from .bak files.

The good news is that you don't need to download a special program to view the contents of the .bak file. However, you may need to open each .bak file in a different way.

How to open a BAK file?

How to open BAK files on your computer? This section provides detailed steps. Depending on your situation, use the appropriate instructions to open the BAK file.

Step 1: Locate the BAK file in Windows Explorer and double-click it to start the corresponding application.

Step 2: If the BAK file is not opened in the application, you will receive an error message "Windows cannot open the file". You should then look for an application that can open the target file.

• If you know an application that can open a BAK file, run it and check if there are files in the application > Open main menu option.
• If you don't know of an application that can open a BAK file, search for "BAK Viewer", "App that opens a BAK file" or similar keywords on a web browser. Then download and install the recommended application on your computer to open the BAK file.

Generally speaking, you can only open BAK files by creating their apps. Sometimes, you can copy the BAK file to the original file by changing the file extension from bak to the appropriate extension. However, such operations should be performed only by skilled professionals, as changing file extensions can lead to data errors and corruption.

If you want to open a SQL Server .bak file, you need to restore it. There is no other way to open and read the contents of SQL Server .bak files besides restoration. In fact, you need to restore the .bak file to view the information in any database backup.

Depending on the type of backup file, the restore process creates the table structure and inserts the data.

Can I delete BAK files?

Can. In fact, it is recommended to delete old files from your computer periodically to keep the workspace neat and free up disk space. However, you should make sure that the files you want to delete will not be needed in the future.

MiniTool Partition Wizard's Space Analyzer feature makes it easy to find content that takes up hard drive space. Once you find space-consuming and useless files on your computer, right-click them and click Delete (to the Recycle Bin) or Delete (permanent) according to your needs.

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