INF: Meaning of "Uninitialized Pages" Message During DUMP

  - Microsoft SQL Server version 4.2 for OS/2

SUMMARY

When a DUMP DATABASE command is issued, SQL Server may return the following message:

   xx uninitialized pages encountered while dumping database
   <db_name>. Run DBCC CHECKALLOC on this database for more
   information, then call technical support if there are any errors.

   (Msg 3004, Level 0, State 1)

MORE INFORMATION

This is not an error, but rather an informational message. The most common cause of the message is when users are actively updating the database while it is being dumped. When a DUMP command is issued, the allocation pages in the database are read to determine which pages are being used; it then dumps the appropriate pages. It is possible to have a situation where a user has caused a page to be marked as allocated, but at the time the dump process goes to dump that page, the page has not yet been initialized with the proper data. The dump process keeps a count of how many of these types of pages are encountered, and displays this total when the dump is complete. The integrity of the dump is not jeopardized.

As the message indicates, it is recommended that DBCC CHECKALLOC be run on the database if the 3004 message is returned. In nearly all cases, the DBCC CHECKALLOC will not show any errors, and the 3004 message can be safely ignored.