Renaming the Physical Filename for Datafiles in SQL Server 2008

Question

Can anyone tell me how to change the physical filename of the datafiles? There doesn't seem to be any documentation on this, yet its quite easy to change the logical filename.

Answer 1

 There are several ways to make this change, however to rename the physical database files at operating system level you will have to take the database offline
1. Use SSMS to take the database Offline (right-click on Database, select Tasks, Take Offline), change the name of the files at the OS level and then Bring it Online.
2. You could Detach the database, rename the files and then Attach the database pointing to the renamed files to do so.
3. You could Backup the database and then restore, changing the file location during the restore process.
4. using T SQL
ALTER DATABASE databaseName SET OFFLINE
GO
ALTER DATABASE databaseNAme MODIFY FILE (NAME =db, FILENAME = 'C:\Program
Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.2\MSSQL\Data\db.mdf')
GO
--if changing log file name
ALTER DATABASE  databaseNAme MODIFY FILE (NAME = db_log, FILENAME =
'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.2\MSSQL\Data\db.ldf')
GO
ALTER DATABASE databaseName SET ONLINE
GO
for more info http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174269.aspx