What happens when you shrink a database?

What does shrinking a DB do?

By using the Shrink Database task, a package can shrink files for a single database or multiple databases. 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.

Is it safe to shrink a database?

This is true that shrinking a database is not recommended. You can understand it like this when you shrink the database then it leads to increase in fragmentation now to reduce the fragmentation you try to rebuilt the index which will eventually lead to increase in your database size.

Does shrink database affect performance?

But shrinking may affect your database performance significantly, if not properly done. Shrinking will increase fragmentation and will cause any DB operation costly. Rebuild indexes is necessary after DB shrink to reduce fragmentation and increase performance.

What is important to do after you shrink your database?

Follow Up: After you shrink a database This causes index fragmentation and can slow the performance of queries that search a range of the index. To eliminate the fragmentation, consider rebuilding the indexes on the file after shrinking. For more information, see Rebuild an index.