Shrink does not work for free space in sql server database

Question

i am trying to shrink database which has a simple recovery model.It has about 10 gb free space but it did not change.

Here is how i get free space and shrink comment

select
a.FILEID,name,
convert(decimal(12,2),round(a.size/128.000,2)) as FILE_SIZE_MB,
convert(decimal(12,2),round(fileproperty(a.name,'SpaceUsed')/128.000,2))as [SPACE_USED_MB],
convert(decimal(12,2),round((a.size-fileproperty(a.name,'SpaceUsed'))/128.000,2))[FREE_SPACE_MB] ,
NAME = left(a.NAME,15),
FILENAME = left(a.FILENAME,30)
from
dbo.sysfiles a

Here is the comment how i shrink file

dbcc shrinkfile(<file_name>,<space_used_mb>)

Answer 1

Actually shrinkfile's 2nd argument is target_space, not 'space_used_mb'. So, the following code should cut your data file, if the db is small enough.

USE master
GO
dbcc shrinkfile( fileId, 250 );

Also, you may consider using SHRINKDATABASE for you case (but be careful about that!)

DBCC SHRINKDATABASE ( [SHRINKED_DB_NAME] )

Corresponding topic is here .