An overview of database recovery models

The recovery model determines how the transactions are logged, whether the backups of transaction logs are allowed, and the type of restore options available to recover the database. The SQL Server 2014 database can be configured to one of three recovery models, which are explained in the following sections.

The simple recovery model

When you use the simple recovery model, SQL Server logs a minimal amount of transactions in the transaction log file, and the transaction log is truncated as soon as transactions are committed. Simple recovery does not allow backups of transaction log files; therefore, databases with a simple recovery model are vulnerable to data loss because you cannot restore the databases to a specific point in time.

The bulk-logged recovery model

With the bulk-logged recovery model, bulk operations are minimally logged in the transaction log file, reducing the overall size of the transaction log file. All other operations are fully logged...