Low on Disk space with big log file and too much initial space allocated

  • Dear forum member,

    I have an interesting question.

    The disk space where I keep my SQL data of one of my dbs is running out of space. I tried to backup the transaction log, which works fine, but the log is still 8 G big. When I check the initial space allocated for the log file, it is 8 G. That is ofcourse the reason why the log will not decrease in size.

    I cannot decrease the initial space allocated since the log is at this moment 8 G, but I can also not get the log smaller because the initial space allocated prevents that. I'm running around in a circle here.

    How can I solve this? The initial size of the log doesn't have to be that big, I think this is from the start of the database when a lot of data was migrated into it.

    Anyone?

    Thanks.

    Vera

  • Even though initial size is 8GB, you should able to shrink the log file.

    I believe there are active transactions at the end of the file. That is preventing you from shrinking the file.

    Run DBCC LOGINFO(dbname). Status 2 means active transaction.

    You have to get rid of that active transaction.

  • I tried a shrink but you cannot shrink to a size smaller than initial size.

  • Have you tried using DBCC SHRINKFILE? That does allow you to shrink the file smaller than its original size.

    Per BOL.. "Use DBCC SHRINKFILE to shrink a file to a size that is less than the size specified when it was created."

  • Thanks, got it solved with DBCC SHRINKFILE (filename, size).

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply