Vedran Kesegic (1/12/2013)
You may benefit a little from that checkpoint step becase there is certain amount of time passed between implicit checkpoint that happens within tran log backup command and the shrink command.
There's no implicit (or explicit) checkpoint that happens within the transaction log backup, and in full recovery checkpoint won't do anything to the log. Only a log backup clears the log in full recovery.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability