User database dumps from SQL Server 4.2 can be loaded into SQL Server 6.0, as long as the same sort order is used by both SQL Servers. The user database dump must be a full database dump, not a transaction log dump, and the dump must occur when there is no update activity taking place in the database. For this reason, it is recommended that the dump occur when SQL Server is started in single-user mode. After the database is successfully loaded, the database will be upgraded.
This capability is one-way only; you cannot dump a SQL Server 6.0 database and load it into a SQL Server 4.2 server. Nor can you load a SQL Server 4.2 master database dump into a SQL Server 6.0 database.
When loading a SQL Server 4.2 user database onto a SQL Server 6.0 server, all necessary comments must exist in the syscomments table. SQL Server cannot upgrade all objects from SQL Server 4.2x databases to SQL Server 6.0 if you have deleted data from the text column in the syscomments table.
Also, you may encounter conflicts with the new SQL Server 6.0 keywords. If conflicts arise after loading the database, you can change the conflicting table or object name and alter the applications that access those objects so that they use the new names. For a list of the new keywords and other reserved words, see the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference. Also see Microsoft SQL Server Setup for information about upgrading a server from version 4.2 to version 6.0.
Note For information about keywords, reserved words, language, statement, query and other compatibility issues between SQL Server 6.0 and SQL Server 4.2 databases, see the compatibility information provided in the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference.