How to find the size of the database dump.

[Nabhonil Sinha]

hi,

There is facility to do backup of the database. I can use that
facility to backup the database. But before i do a backup i want to
check if the disk space available enough to backup that database. I
have a 22gb database mdf file, when i took a backup of that its only
3gb. SO i cannot use the size of mdf file to determine the database
dump file. Is there any facility available to find out the backup
database dump size before doing the backup?

Thanks
Nabhonil.

[Simon Hayes]

"Nabhonil Sinha" <na*****@cisco. com> wrote in message
news:a0******** *************** ***@posting.goo gle.com...

hi,

There is facility to do backup of the database. I can use that
facility to backup the database. But before i do a backup i want to
check if the disk space available enough to backup that database. I
have a 22gb database mdf file, when i took a backup of that its only
3gb. SO i cannot use the size of mdf file to determine the database
dump file. Is there any facility available to find out the backup
database dump size before doing the backup?

Thanks
Nabhonil.

I'm not sure if this is possible, at least in a reliable way. For a full
backup, the "reserved" column in the sp_spaceused output might be a very
rough starting point (it wouldn't include transaction log information), but
differential and log backups would make things more complicated. It could be
easier simply to run a few backups, get a feel for how big they should be,
then monitor the backup file size over time.

In any case, disk space is quite cheap, so buying an extra disk or two is
probably also something to consider.

Simon