Large gdbtable file. What is it from?

Question

ArcGIS Pro 3.32

I have a geodatabase that up until recently totaled about 70MB.  Now it is about 2.75 GB and  2.67GB is due to one file: a00000046.gdbtable

I don't recall what is did that could have caused this. Is there is way to find out what is using this file or what it contains?

I tried:

* Compacting the geodatabase
* Creating a new  geodatabase and copying the tables and other items from the original to the new one. The new one ended up being 62MB.

If I look at the contents of the file I see these strings at the top of the file:

OBJECTID
rasterband_id
rrd_factor
row_nbr
col_nbr
block_data
block_key

Any ideas?

DanPatterson · Answer

you should look at

Package Project (Data Management)—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

it help remove unnecessary materials.  Also clear your history and display cash regularly

erikmeitner · Answer

I copied the entire project folder to another location and removed the large gdbtable file. This copy of the project opened just fine and there do no seem to be any problems with any of the local data.

I'll make a backup and do the same with my main project. Fingers crossed.

There really ought to be a way to confirm whether files are in use by the project. No one likes bloat.

JoshuaBixby · Answer

Sometimes chasing the answer isn't worth the effort.  If creating a new geodatabase and copying everything into it works, why not just start using that GDB and delete the old one?  If the 2.75 GB file keeps coming back, then it is likely worth troubleshooting.