Chapter 30. Reusing space in a table

Joe Webb

People who have switched to Microsoft SQL Server from Microsoft Access sometimes ask, “If I delete a bunch of rows, do I need to compact my SQL Server database?”

It’s been many years since I’ve used Access, but I still remember the reason for their concern. Access would continually add rows to the end of the table. If some, or even all, of the rows were deleted from the table, Access wouldn’t reuse the space. It kept adding rows to the end of the table and never backfilled the holes. Compacting the Access database file would get rid of the holes.

Understanding how SQL Server automatically reuses table space

I’m not an expert in Access, and I’m certainly not knocking it. I haven’t even used Access ...

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