Using Instant Clone

If you want to use Instant Clone from Powershell, read Using the PowerShell cmdlets.

If you want to use Instant Clone from the Command Line, read Using the Command Line.

If you want to use Instant Clone from the UI, read Using the UI.

Important Tips

Do not delete clone databases via SQL Server. Use the User Interface, rgclone.exe drop clone command or the Remove-InstantCloneClone cmdlet. This ensures everything is tidied-up correctly.
On machine restart, or a restart of the SQL Server service, your clones will have stopped. The Redgate Instant Clone service will restore the clones when it restarts, or you can run rgclone.exe restore from the command-line, or Restore-InstantClone in PowerShell.

A snapshot takes approximately 20 seconds per Gb to create – the limiting factor is usually the speed of your storage. A snapshot will occupy a similar amount of space as the original database.
A clone takes approximately 5 seconds to create. Upon creation, a clone uses roughly 30mb, regardless of the snapshot size. If you write to the clone, for instance by inserting, updating or deleting data, this will increase the size of the clone.
If you snapshot a clone, then you get a ‘chain’ of snapshots, which effectively uses less disk space. For instance, let’s say we snapshot a 10Gb database, clone it, make 1Gb of additions, and then snapshot the clone. The 1^st snapshot is 10Gb, but the 2^nd snapshot is only 1Gb – not 11Gb. This is because the 2^nd snapshot references the 1^st. This method can be used to create a space-efficient chain of clones/snapshots.