Backup database size

Greetings,
My colleauges and I disagree ... and we're looking for the right answer:
Assume you have a database X. Database X has been allocated 50 GB. The
actual data consumes 20 GB of the 50 GB. Is there a way, WITHOUT using 3rd
party tools, to backup the database to disk so that it consumes 15 GB of
drive space, or even significantly less?
My claim: Any backup method native to SQL Server can only create a backup
file that will be around 20 GB. It's possible to compress the file AFTER
backing it up using a 3rd party tool.
Their claim: Their backups are 20% - 30% of the 20 GB ... so essentially the
data is being compressed during the backup.
Thanks in advance!
Mark
field027@.umn.edu"Mark" <mfield@.idonotlikespam.cce.umn.edu> wrote in message
news:#ZRnbrioDHA.2000@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Assume you have a database X. Database X has been allocated 50 GB. The
> actual data consumes 20 GB of the 50 GB. Is there a way, WITHOUT using
3rd
> party tools, to backup the database to disk so that it consumes 15 GB of
> drive space, or even significantly less?
You could do the backup to a compressed folder on a NTFS formatted drive.|||Could they be just backing up the data and scripting the indexes, objects,
permissions etc
sp_spaceused will show you the data / index sizes
--
HTH
Ryan Waight, MCDBA, MCSE
"Mark" <mfield@.idonotlikespam.cce.umn.edu> wrote in message
news:%23ZRnbrioDHA.2000@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Greetings,
> My colleauges and I disagree ... and we're looking for the right answer:
> Assume you have a database X. Database X has been allocated 50 GB. The
> actual data consumes 20 GB of the 50 GB. Is there a way, WITHOUT using
3rd
> party tools, to backup the database to disk so that it consumes 15 GB of
> drive space, or even significantly less?
> My claim: Any backup method native to SQL Server can only create a backup
> file that will be around 20 GB. It's possible to compress the file AFTER
> backing it up using a 3rd party tool.
> Their claim: Their backups are 20% - 30% of the 20 GB ... so essentially
the
> data is being compressed during the backup.
> Thanks in advance!
> Mark
> field027@.umn.edu
>|||You are correct. SQL Server does not compress data, but it will not backup
unused pages (extents?). To get the data under 20GB, you need some 3:rd
party app or some external compression tool.
--
Tibor Karaszi
"Mark" <mfield@.idonotlikespam.cce.umn.edu> wrote in message
news:%23ZRnbrioDHA.2000@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Greetings,
> My colleauges and I disagree ... and we're looking for the right answer:
> Assume you have a database X. Database X has been allocated 50 GB. The
> actual data consumes 20 GB of the 50 GB. Is there a way, WITHOUT using
3rd
> party tools, to backup the database to disk so that it consumes 15 GB of
> drive space, or even significantly less?
> My claim: Any backup method native to SQL Server can only create a backup
> file that will be around 20 GB. It's possible to compress the file AFTER
> backing it up using a 3rd party tool.
> Their claim: Their backups are 20% - 30% of the 20 GB ... so essentially
the
> data is being compressed during the backup.
> Thanks in advance!
> Mark
> field027@.umn.edu
>|||You can check out the following 3rd party tools:
SQLLiteSpeed.com
SQLzip.com
Rohit