Backup File Sizes
You must consider the size, or potential size, of individual backup files. Keep in mind that
your server/network administrators create backups as well, so it??™s crucial to understand
the amount of space used by each backup technique. In one situation, the size of the
CHAPTER 2 n MAKING DATABASE BACKUPS 29
backups exceeded the capacity of a tape drive, and it took almost two months before the
server administrator noticed that some full database backups made to disk were not
being backed up to tape. Luckily, no disaster of any kind occurred during that time frame.
It did make management nervous, though.
Full backups tend to be nearly the same size as the database itself. They are slightly
smaller, but for practical purposes, just plan on the backup file being the same size as the
database. You can reduce the size of an individual backup by using file or filegroup backups,
which I??™ll discuss at length in Chapter 4.
Differential backup sizes can vary greatly, depending primarily on the amount of
time that passes between the differential and the last full backup.
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