Post reply

Size of Compressed Backups During Backup Job

  • August 3, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    #242552

    I have had a production support engineer contact me regarding free disk space on a SQL Server 2008 backup drive. The backup files are larger during the backup process than when it is completed, and during this time, the monitor is throwing warnings about free disk space. Is this normal for 2008, or is there something that I need to do?

    The backup files show as almost 300 GB during the backup, then show 50 - 60 GB after the backup is complete.

  • August 3, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    #1363350

    If you are using backup with compression then yes, when you started the backup the backup file shows you the actual size of the database but on its completion it will show you the actual backup file size approx. 1/6th of size of the database.

    [font="Tahoma"]
    --SQLFRNDZ[/url]
    [/font]

  • August 5, 2011 at 8:15 am

    #1364376

    Thank you, I wanted to be sure that this was not an avoidable behavior. On further testing, I am finding that SQL appears to use available space during backups, even if it is less than the size of the uncompressed database. When backing up a 900 GB database on a drive with 300 GB free, it uses the 300 until the final backup, between 90 - 100 GB, is completed.

  • August 5, 2011 at 9:24 am

    #1364441

    Redgate SQL Abckup and Quest Litespeed dont have this issue so may be worth investing in the software if space is an issue. Both products can compress upto 90%.

    MCITP SQL 2005, MCSA SQL 2012

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

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