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We have SharePoint 2010 running on a SQL 2008R2 server (not sure if that's relevant). There are many, many picture libraries that have driven the database size to close to 120GB. I've written a utility that will resize all of these pictures to about 20% of their original, so it will free up a huge amount of space. For the purpose of reducing our online backup bill, I'd like to reclaim much of this space but I've been reading about the performance costs of SHRINKing the database.

If I SHRINK most of the space but leave a large percentage free will that eliminate the fragmentation problem associated with it? ...or is there maybe a better strategy for my problem?

Michael Nelson
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Doing SHRINK frequently is not good. but what is too frequently is case by case. after reduced space of pictures, database files will have space become available and that should be ok to reclaim I guess once a week. you must have DB maintenance plan running over the weekend or during off time right ? running SHRINK database/files at well tested interval does not harm. though I didn't understand what you mean by this line "If I SHRINK most of the space but leave a large percentage free ......"

how do you choose what piece of file you can shrink and what not. either you can do FULL DB or some selected data/log files if you have more than one db files per database.

Anup Shah
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  • Maybe I misunderstand what it's for, but the second parameter of DBCC SHRINKDATABASE is defined as "the percentage of free space that you want left in the database file after the database has been shrunk" according to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190488%28v=sql.105%29.aspx – Michael Nelson Oct 06 '13 at 12:10