In addtion to the stability potential of option B, particularly if you have a family, there is a lot to be said for being "the main db dude". I would...

On further thought, I should amend my prior answer which was not meant to imply that anyone else on here isn't working hard or good at what they do.

...

I already have almost all those (except the pension and overtime) in my private sector, US job. I got them by busting my rear end and being good at what...

Agree with the backup and index rules. However, the way I enforce those and more is via my number one rule: Nobody touches the database(s) structure but me! The developers...

My company lets me do it. I telecommute 2 days a week. Between terminal server and my VOIP phone I'm just as "present" and available telecommuting as I am sitting...

Absolutley a DIYer. I built my own house also (under the expert guidance of my brother in law). I won't paint or do drywall though, I know I'm horrible at...

I don't think that the general populace quite understands what we do, so IT Guy is about the best we can hope for. I've been happy to get some coworkers...

I didn't look at this specific one but it gets tiresome having to give up contact information to read a whitepaper (advertisement) and then having to talk to some sales...

Very interesting! That appears to work. I wonder why?  And why I wonder did the Stats percent not cause trouble previously, and why does it still not cause trouble on the other dbs on the...

 I haven't found the solution yet. I'm about to try the hotfix you referenced, but I am waiting confirmation that it won't affect the third party software that runs on...

  Always at least 3NF, especially if you are designing a transaction heavy db. I think the performance issue is sometimes a straw man in the normalization discussion, and the issue can largely...

Excellent. Finally, some evidence I can use to try to convince my wife and kids that I'm not crazy after all. It's not just me! <Grin>

 I haven't found any solution...

Thanks. I'll keep digging and post the solution if I find one. Maybe I'll just keep doing the backups in Query Analyzer until I replace this machine with SQL Server...

SQL Server 2000 SP3a.

As I said, this has worked without fail for over 2 years until the last month.

backup command is:

BACKUP DATABASE [MyDBApplicationname] TO  DISK = N'E:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL...

Nope. No Verify. And the backup command is identical to that on the databases that aren't failing.