get stuck trying to copy or backup database in microsoft SQL server I have a website running on a windows hosting package with my provider.
I bought a new windows hosting package, and now i want to copy my 'older' site into the new pack.

SO I can acces the old db and the new db (which is still totaly empty, no tables, ..) through sql server. So they both connect to an online server, it's not local.

Now I want to copy old db to new.
First option is to use: tasks > copy database
In this wizard i enter my source db data, next, i enter my destination db data, next, now i get the message 'copy database wizard - object reference not set to an instance of an object'.
So here i get stuck..

Alternative option I think is to export old db, and later import into new.
So i go to: tasks > backup
I select my old db, full backup type, destination: disk
--> i'm not sure what 'disk' means. Does it mean create a backup file on my local disk on my laptop from where i do all of this?
--> The standard value that is there looks like an url to a server though, it starts with an ip adress:
\172.20.101.253\sql008\TRN\ID97655_..............tm
--> since i do not know how to access that place, i remove it and i add a new path, something like: D:\MSSQL\BACKUP\backuptest.Bak
--> that .bak file does not exist yet there, the path does exist
--> then i get the warning: 'cannot verify the existence of the backup file location. do you want to use the backup file location anyway?'
--> i choose 'yes', then the backup completes succesfully to 100%
--> there is no bak file to be found on that directory.
so now i'm stuck here to

for the disk location i entered, is it still searching that location on the server instead of localy?
when i google for this issue i find a lot of threads saying it's some rights issue. So I go to my D drive, richtclick , properties, security.
Here I find 4 standard users (verified users, SYSTEM, administrators, users), i make sure all of them have all access.
But maybe this is not enough? do i need to create a new user? how do i know which one?

Thanks for helping me further with this,
have a nice day,

sandy
It doesn't matter if you're running SSMS from your laptop or any other computer.

When you successfully connect to a SQL Server instance using SSMS, you have to get the mindset that you are actually on the server that hosts that SQL Server instance.

So, when you use SSMS to connect to 'OldInstance' (located on Server1) and issue commands like BACKUP DATABASE ... TO DISK D:\MSSQL\BACKUP\backuptest.bak, you are referring to the D-drive on Server1 where that SQL Server instance is located.  If no D-drive exists on Server1, the backup command will fail.  However, your backup completed successfully, so the bak file would be on the D-drive of Server1.

The same idea applies to RESTORE DATABASE FROM DISK ....  'DISK' refers to disks available to that specific server (which could be D-driver, E-Drive, etc. or even a file share).

You don't go into much detail about whether OldInstance and NewInstance are hosted on the same server or not.

Somehow, you'll need to get the bak file that you created against OldInstance to a place where NewInstance can access it.

If 'OldInstance' and 'NewInstance' are on the same physical server (or VM), 
you might be able to work with your hosting provider to help you access the backup created from OldInstance and restore it to NewInstance.

If OldInstance and NewInstance are on completely different servers and they both can't access a given file share, you will probably have to FTP the backup from OldInstance down to your computer (if that is even possible) and the FTP that backup file to the NewInstance server and issue the RESTORE DATABASE on NewInstance pointing the the backup file you just FTP'd