What is LDF file?

Is it safe to delete LDF file?

In some cases, the Microsoft SQL Server Database Transaction Log (. LDF) file becomes very huge. It's wasting a lot of disk space and causing some problems if you want to backup and restore the database. We can delete the log file and create a new log file with the minimum size.

What is the purpose of LDF?

An LDF file is a log file created by SQL Server, a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Microsoft. It contains a log of recent actions executed by the database and is used to track events so that the database can recover from hardware failures or other unexpected shutdowns.

What is LDF file format?

A file with . ldf extension is a log file maintained by Microsoft SQL Server which is a relational database management system (RDBMS). All the transactions performed on primary database files (MDF)(such as insertion, update, deletion) are recorded in the LDF file. LDF files are critical components of any database.

How do I open a LDF file?

Reading . ldf file is only possible using third party tools such as ApexSQL Log. There is also SQL Log Rescue which is free but only for SQL Server 2000.