CI is 3 columns -- 2 int and 1 datetime

no varchar(max), guid, etc -- all int, datetime, and decimal/numeric

yes, all indexes

the filegroup referenced in my original post contains only a table and its clustered index, the non-clustered indexes are in another filegroup

(just for the db in question, across all filegroups)

DataFileSizeMB889676.125

DataUsedMB507716

DataFreeMB381960.125

DataFreePercent42.93

LogFileSizeMB1024.492188

LogFileUsedMB49.36621094

LogFreeSizeMB975.1259766

LogUsedPercent4

LogFreePercent96

ok, back to my original issue:

why would this file, which is 50% empty, keep growing? Is it due to the index rebuild alone needing to use all 50%+ (to...

DBCC SHRINKFILE ... , TRUNCATEONLY

on the file in question itself, not the log

your'e confisuing it with:

BACKUP LOG ... WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY

re: index rebuild causing autogrow -- maybe, but I would think it would utilize the unused space first before growing

am I correct in that TRUNCATEONLY does not move data, only frees unused space from the end of the file?

correction, there is a daily shrink with TRUCNATEONLY, dont know what that does to file size if anything, but the overall trend is for growth

no

(variation on your query)

SELECT un.name, ung.groupname , si.indid

FROM sysobjects un INNER JOIN sysindexes si ON un.id=si.id

INNER JOIN sysfilegroups ung ON si.groupid=ung.groupid

WHERE ung.groupname = ...

name (table)

...

That worked! Thank you!