Backup All databases using T-SQL

In this article, I will share a nice handy script I found while trying to find a solution to the problem of working on different machines accross the day.

Most of my source codes are synchronized to Azure DevOps or One Drive (more personal work), however, I had no clean solution to backup all my databases in one go.

In the past, I developed an SSIS Package to achieve this, however, I had to install SSIS in evey laptop/desktop I used, which was a bit heavy.

Here is a clean T-SQL code that you can run any time which will take a backup of all databases (excluding master, tempdb…etc.)

DECLARE @name VARCHAR(50) -- database name  
DECLARE @path VARCHAR(256) -- path for backup files  
DECLARE @fileName VARCHAR(256) -- filename for backup  
DECLARE @fileDate VARCHAR(20) -- used for file name
 
-- specify database backup directory
SET @path = 'C:\Backup\'  
 
-- specify filename format
SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112) 
 
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR READ_ONLY FOR  
SELECT name 
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases 
WHERE name NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')  -- exclude these databases
 
OPEN db_cursor   
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name   
 
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0   
BEGIN   
   SET @fileName = @path + @name + '_' + @fileDate + '.BAK'  
   BACKUP DATABASE @name TO DISK = @fileName  
 
   FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name   
END   

 
CLOSE db_cursor   
DEALLOCATE db_cursor