topic Re: The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file, in ArcGIS Enterprise Questions

The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

JamalNUMAN — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 18:12:20 GMT

The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

As all the content of mdf file is exported (or imported) to a gdb, the size drops dramatically. The size of mdf is 8GB while its corresponding gdb is 200MB!!!

Then how to “clean” the mdf file so that it gets as small as the gdb?

Thank you

Best

Jamal

Re: The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

JoshuaBixby — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 21:41:09 GMT

Read up on sp_spaceused (Transact-SQL), paying particular attention to how the categories of space are defined.

Shrinking an enterprise database (geo- or otherwise) can cause a lot of logging, disk I/O, and other non-desirable behaviors. Given the size of today's local storage options, I am not sure it is worth pursuing. If you do pursue it, make a backup before you try it.

Another thing to consider is that the geodatabase model is implemented quite a bit differently in an enterprise geodatabase versus a file geodatabase. File geodatabases may support the data models of the geodatabase, but they don't support all of the functionality like versioning.

Have you looked at the state of your geodatabase? How much data is tied up in add and delete tables? I would look at reconciling and compressing the geodatabase before shrinking the enterprise geodatabase that hosts the geodatabase.

Re: The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

JamalNUMAN — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 21:03:32 GMT

Are there any powerful tools in Pro that can purge the mdf data?

Re: The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

JoshuaBixby — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 21:33:59 GMT

There is nothing new in Pro that I am aware of. What have you tried from last time you asked, and what were the results?

Re: The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

George_Thompson — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 10:54:26 GMT

The MDF file is managed by SQL Server not ArcGIS. I would also review the post that @JoshuaBixby mentioned.

Re: The size of mdf file is much bigger than its gdb file,

JamalNUMAN — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 09:39:59 GMT

Thank you guys for the input

Best

Jamal