Is it recommended to shrink data file in SQL Server?

Is it safe to shrink SQL database?

Follow Up: After you shrink a database Data that is moved to shrink a file can be scattered to any available location in the file. This causes index fragmentation and can slow the performance of queries that search a range of the index.

What happens if we shrink data file in SQL Server?

Shrinking data files recovers space by moving pages of data from the end of the file to unoccupied space closer to the front of the file. When enough free space is created at the end of the file, data pages at end of the file can be deallocated and returned to the file system.

Why you should not shrink your data files?

Shrinking of data files should be performed even more rarely, if at all. Here's why: data file shrink can cause *massive* index fragmentation (of the out-of-order pages kind, not the wasted-space kind) and it is very expensive (in terms of I/O, locking, transaction log generation).

Should I shrink database or files?

Databases tend to grow as more data gets put in them. It's in their nature. Shrinking causes massive fragmentation and will just result in the data file growing again next time data gets added. When that happens, the entire system will slow down as the file is expanded.