You need to issue a backup command to the SQL Server and then archive the .bak file. You never want to access the .mdf and .ldf files directly.
Use this query:
BACKUP DATABASE [DBName] TO DISK = 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\BackUpManual\DBName.bak' WITH INIT , NOUNLOAD , NAME = N'DBName backup', NOSKIP , STATS = 10, NOFORMAT
Note: The file path is relative to the machine running the SQL Server, not the client issuing the command
sknake
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What is the error you receive?
sknake
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Well try a full backup (using the query I posted) instead of a differential backup. This will indicate if backups are working at all.
sknake
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