403 - How to restore SQL database files with a .DAT extension

Some older SQL servers created a *.DAT file when backing up the SQL databases. Unfortunately, SQL does not recognise the .DAT extension as a valid backup file so you need to extract the database from this file.

First restore the .DAT file in Server Edition to a temporary location eg: C:\Temp\MyDatabase.dat.
Next you need to confirm what the .DAT file contain. To do this run the following command in SQL:
RESTORE FILELISTONLY FROM DISK='C:\Temp\MyDatabase.dat'

This will return a result similar to the info below confirming the .DAT file contains the database files you want to restore:

LogicalName :: PhysicalName :: FileGroupName

Data_V2_1_Data :: C:DATABASESMyDatabase.MDF :: PRIMARY
Data_V2_1_Log :: C:DATABASES\MyDatabase.LDF :: NULL
You can now execute a RESTORE with the desired MOVE options
RESTORE MyDatabase
FROM DISK='C:\MyDatabase.dat'
WITH
MOVE 'MyDatabase' TO 'C:\DBDataFiles\MyDatabase.mdf',
MOVE 'MyDatabase_Log' TO 'C:\DBDataFiles\MyDatabase_Log.ldf'

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