you don't want to shrink it. You'll just grow it when you reindex again. You want to have enough free space to handle normal data change needs, including rebuilding indexes.

My guess is you need to contact a reseller and ask for pricing.

Or call MS. This page (http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/purchase-options.aspx), shows (800) 426-9400

You do this the same as you do for a full backup, but you add the DIFFERENTIAL option

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa238405(SQL.80).aspx

There is a restart option for RESTORE. Not sure if it will apply for you, but you can try it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa238405(SQL.80).aspx

If I'm doing something small, paper or Visio work well. If I need to manage and handle changes to a larger database, I prefer ERStudio over Erwin. Haven't used TOAD.

Some good info here: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/sql/2008/default.mspx

I don't think there will be a lot of difference between these exams in terms of content. If you are working with 2008 now, take that...

There's no "best" in college. There are tiers of colleges, which are based on reputation and the networking you'll get, but for something as specific as DB research, I'm not...

a gee-whiz fiber optic laser beam assembler?:D

Scott,

You've got quite a problem here and I'd really suggest engaging a consultant that can help you with more detailed designs for your environment.

You are tackling a few issues here...

I never noticed that. I'll take Chewbacca if no one else has him.

Very nice, Phil, and thanks.

It's right on that many of you out there have helped.

(post sneaked in from Keystone, CO )

I'm not sure how configurable this is. I'd have to dig into it and see if there's something we can do.

Most people don't enter a description, BTW. It's one...

Wow, brings back memories to go look at the v1 site. Very cool and thanks for the link!

It's hard to tell you what to do here. There are pros and cons to one or multiple tables.

I'd tend to split differing things into different tables, according to normaliztion...

SQL Server will respond to the shutdown message from Windows. I wouldn't pull the power plug, but I've restarted thousands of instances with Windows | restart with no issues.