Managing the size of your database

The size of your database depends largely on the indexes you create, and the quantity of data you maintain. You achieve faster query processing by creating all of the indexes you need for the types of queries your users issue. However, if you find that some tables or indexes are not needed, you can drop them. By doing so, you free up disk space, increase the speed of loads and backups, and reduce the amount of archive storage you need for backups.

To control the quantity of data stored in a given table, consider how best to eliminate data rows you no longer need. If your database contains data that originated in a SQL Anywhere database, you may be able to eradicate unneeded data by simply replaying Anywhere deletions; command syntax is compatible. You can do the same with data from an Adaptive Server Enterprise database, because Sybase IQ provides Transact-SQL compatibility.