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I am trying to do a shrink on my data file, after large delete. It is failing and I am unable to get it working.

I am probably going to have to move to new data file. I am trying to find out if doing this will double the space to store the new file? If so, will I need to accommodate for the free space in the initial file.

I ask because the files are HUGE. 1.5 TB with 60% free space. So will I need 3TB, 2.5TB or will it just move from one file to another.

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One thing to try is shrinking the existing file in small increments, it may take many passes to get it down, but it usually works; 10GB per pass is a good number to try.

If not, and you are trying to add another smaller file, you'll need a file large enough to hold the used space in the current file, which I assume would be around 600GB (40% used * 1.5TB), add the file to the existing file group and use the option in SSMS to "Empty file by migrating the data files in the same filegroup" on the current larger file. It's going to take a long time with that much data. When it's all done, you should be able to remove the existing 1.5TB file.

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  • Using the Reorganize pages before releasing unused space in small chunks did the trick. Once I got it down a bit, I was able to use large 100GB+ chunks.
    – Dustin Laine
    Nov 4, 2010 at 6:05

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