Disk Space Requirements | SQL Server Performance Forums

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Disk Space Requirements

Greetings Folks, I haven’t been able to find much about this so far, and I was hoping someone may have an idea. Is there a general rule of thumb regarding how much disk space I should set aside at all times for a database restoration? Is it purely the sum of the data and log file sizes, or should there also be a portion added as a safety buffer. I came across one article that recommended reserving disk space that’s twice the size of the back up file itself, but I couldn’t find a resource to confirm it. We are currently trying to determine how much SAN storage to reserve for this, so any advice you may have would be greatly appreciated. best regards,
mikeCC
You need as much space as the backup file will take, and the database itself. The backup file may be smaller than the database itself as it doesn’t back up free space and it doesn’t back up empty log space. Look at how much room the source database takes up, you’ll need all that, and the size of the backup file.
As per our standards we keep 3 times of all user database date files for the backup disk space on the backup drive, which gives you much time to recover in emergency purpose. Its not a general rule to follow, but purely depends on the database capacity and its growth in next 3 years of time. Always assess the disk space and databsae usage in this case to get accurate statistics. Satya SKJ
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Contributing Editor & Forums Moderator
http://www.SQL-Server-Performance.Com
This posting is provided AS IS with no rights for the sake of knowledge sharing.
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