Using Shrink to address SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Free Space
Summary
The recommended free disk space for an SQL Server (SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional database), is 15%. There may not may any notification of low disk space, until running the SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Upgrade Wizard. In the case of insufficient disk space, the log created by the PDM Database Upgrade Wizard, will show that there was a failure, but may not provide the cause. The greater the gap between versions of the database(s), the more free space that will be required, during the Upgrade If disk space becomes more critical, users may start to get the message ‘‘Error accessing the database’ and ‘Transaction log is full’ in client log.” When investigating this message it is important to determine if Autogrowth has been enabled and that the defined Maximum File Size has not been reached. The Shrink operation will cause SQL Index fragmentation and this can lead to poor SQL/PDM performance.