Contour Feature Class Gets Huge When Copied to SDE

[MattDeitemeyer]

I have a contour feature class that takes up 2 GB in a File GDB. When I move it to SDE the disk space quadrupled. This is a SQL Server instance of SDE. I've tried a number of different methods. I have the same problem regardless if I use ArcGIS 10.5.1 or PRO. I've tried SQL spatial and ESRI binary types for the destination feature class. To move the data I've tried; Load Features, Append, Copy Features, and an old fashion copy/paste. I keep getting the same result, a huge 'file' that takes forever to render. I can move the data between File GDBs with no problem. Any ideas?

[DanPatterson]

Michelle Mathias‌ this needs to be moved.

[JoshuaBixby]

Sharing with Geodatabase‌.

Have you tried Rebuild a spatial index—ArcGIS Help | Documentation ?

[George_Thompson]

Is the issue the performance of the layer or the size on disc?

If it is the size, what is the concern on the size?

If it is performance, what are your concerns?

[George_Thompson]

Also take a look at this post: https://community.esri.com/message/859580-re-feature-classes-quadruples-in-size-when-imported-to-sde... 

[MattDeitemeyer]

Yeah, I read through this. I didn't see anything actionable.

[MattDeitemeyer]

I only care about performance. I only bring up disk space because the bloated size and poor performance appear correlated.

[MattDeitemeyer]

Regarding performance, it comes down simple things like draw time or just opening the attribute table. The FGDB version renders the entire feature class in a minute. The SDE version takes so long I have to kill the application. It's so unmanageable I can't test other performance metrics. 

[George_Thompson]

Where is the fGDB located, on the network or local?   If on the network, is it in the same location as the SQL Server machine?

What are the resources of the SQL Server machine when running the draw?

What is the version of SQL Server and machine specs?

Did rebuilding the spatial index make any difference?

I can say that if you are drawing all the contours at full scale, that is a ton of vertices to draw and request.

Based on your comment about timing out, I would look at the SQL machine to see what it is doing when you are trying to draw the contours. I do not think that it has anything to do with the "size on disc".

[George_Thompson]

Sorry have a few other thoughts:

Have you generalized the contours at all?

Are you using them for analysis or visualization?