Do you lock the SharePoint Content Database before making a backup?

Even though you have advised staff members a migration is taking place – you can guarantee someone will try to check-in or edit documents. The best way to prevent this is to put your content database into read-only mode, locking the content database.

There are two options to lock the content database.

Option 1 ( Recommended ):

1. Open SharePoint Central Administration site, navigate to "Application Management " | "Site Collections " | " Configure quotas and locks ".
2. Select the "site collection" which you would like to lock.
3. Choose "Read-only (blocks additions, updates, and deletions)", then click "OK". Note: Read more at Manage the lock status for site collections in SharePoint 2013 Option 2 ( not recommended ):
4. On your database server open SQL Server Management Studio
5. Right click on the content database associated with the site collection you're migrating | Properties
6. Choose Options | Scroll to the bottom of the options list
7. For the Database Read-Only choose True

1. Now it’s safe to take a backup of your content database

NOTE: When some SharePoint timer services are run it may cause the site to display errors when the database is in read-only mode