Thanks for the update and solution. That shouldn't happen often, but it's good to consider removing and recreating the job.

No, shrink should be rarely run. Only when something happens you didn't expect.

select * from sys.database_files

in master should help.

You can go to sysinternals as well and get the filetracker and see if the file is being held open by the SQL process.

I'm not sure you get a lot from 2 partitions. I suppose one could become corrupt and not the other, which would be nice to have data on one, logs/backups...

does is change on stop/restart of SQL?

strange, I'd be concerned that you are using the wrong files. Have you tried to rename a file? See if SQL is using it?

Thanks for the responses and I wish I'd had a few of these on Tue in the MVP sessions. There were questions about what compelling things would get people to...

Lynn,

I agree and noted as much in my email. I did ask him/her to have a friend or two read through it and give an opinion.

I'd say BCP. use a format file.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174646(SQL.80).aspx

Apologies for not getting in there sooner. I could see the heat coming through the wires from people's ears.

Supposedly this is an "MVP" as well. I suggested he post the...

We have a fix (I think) in test now. We're hoping to roll that out before too much longer.

same idea as here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/164485

Set the variables, create the objects, make the call. ASP uses VBScript, so the code is the same, minus the <! stuff.

Jack,

Good thought on the rating. Not sure we can move that to a post level, but it's something to consider.

OK, my apologies for missing out on this for a few days. In Seattle I didn't have a lot of time for threads and didn't get to this one. I...

I'm not sure the blame list should be too small or infrequent. I want people trying things and growing, and that often requires mistakes. You don't want big mistakes, or...

Haven't seen it, but here's something: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5699448884004201579