ID Number: Q69330
1.10 1.11 4.20
OS/2
Summary:
SYMPTOMS
When a database dump is overlaid over a previous dump, and if the
database has less data than the previous dump, the size of the dump
file does not change; it changes only if the second dump is larger.
CAUSE
This behavior occurs because SQL Server uses an end-of-file (EOF)
marker to close a dump device, and does not provide any feature to
free up unused disk space. Therefore, as observed above, if the
dump file is smaller than the previous dump file, the size of the
DUMP.DAT file will remain the same.
RESOLUTION
If disk space is a consideration, rename your DUMP.DAT file(s),
execute your dump procedures, and if the dump procedures are
successful, delete the renamed DUMP.DAT file(s).
More Information:
Example
-------
Suppose the size of the OS/2 file containing a previous dump is
11,948,032. Dump the database after a month and the TESTDB.DAT file
still shows 11,948,032. Then copy TESTDB.DAT to another file, delete
TESTDB.DAT, and redump the database. The new TESTDB.DAT is now
10,919,936. This is because in OS/2 if you overlay a larger file with
a smaller file, the overlaid file is smaller.
Additional reference words: 1.10 1.11 4.20 Dumping and Loading