How do I make a backup device file smaller ?

Hi
I have a backup device file ... ".bck" whick has grown pretty large.
Is there any way I can reduce its size ?

Thanks

David Greenberg

Re: How do I make a backup device file smaller ?

Are you appending multiple backups to the same backup file? In that case,
the file will grow indefinitely because you can't remove individual backups.
You'll need to periodically rename the backup file to start anew.

One approach is to append a backup date/time to the file name so that you
separate backup files and keep a rolling number of the latest copies
according to your recovery requirements. A database backup maintenance plan
can facilitate this or you can roll your own.

--
Hope this helps.

Dan Guzman
SQL Server MVP
http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/dang/

"David Greenberg" wrote in message
news:fthspj$6qb$1@news4.netvision.net.il...
> Hi
> I have a backup device file ... ".bck" whick has grown pretty large.
> Is there any way I can reduce its size ?
>
> Thanks
>
> David Greenberg

Re: How do I make a backup device file smaller ?

On Apr 9, 3:56 pm, David Greenberg wrote:
> Hi
> I have a backup device file ... ".bck" whick has grown pretty large.
> Is there any way I can reduce its size ?
>
> Thanks
>
> David Greenberg

You can zip it. :D

Hope this short answer helps.

aCe
http://www.acerahmat.com

Re: How do I make a backup device file smaller ?

On Apr 9, 10:56=A0am, David Greenberg wrote:
> Hi
> I have a backup device file ... =A0 ".bck" whick has grown pretty large.
> Is there any way I can reduce its size ?
>
> Thanks
>
> David Greenberg

Maybe you can try to truncate you log data with a command like this:
BACKUP LOG dbname WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY

Bye

Re: How do I make a backup device file smaller ?

Davide Benfenati (davide.benfenati@gmail.com) writes:
> On Apr 9, 10:56 am, David Greenberg wrote:
>> I have a backup device file ...   ".bck" whick has grown pretty large.
>> Is there any way I can reduce its size ?
>>
>
> Maybe you can try to truncate you log data with a command like this:
> BACKUP LOG dbname WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY

No, that is not even close. BACKUP LOG WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY is a command
that you should only use in an emergency as it breaks the log chain
if you are running in full or bulk-logged recovery. And WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY
does not make anything smaller. Although you may be able to shrink
the log file after the operation.

But Davide asked for how to reduce the size of a backup file. The only
way to do that is to delete it or overwrite it with WITH INIT.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/downlo ads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/previousversions/books .mspx