Removing unused blocks to save disk space

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I believe the file must be closed, and in this instance I would do so ASAP. Open the file locally in FIleMAker Pro and then close it again.

HTH

Old Advance Man

[cinolas]

So what you are suggesting is :

- Close the file in FMP server.

- Open and close it in FMP.

Just closing it and re-openeing it in FMP server won't do the trick ?

If so it is kind of anoying. It means that, in order to keep DBs defragmented, one has to regularily go through this procedure for all DBs ?

[cinolas]

For reference sake :

I closed my Cient DB from FMP Server and it did the whole Scanning for unused blocks/Removing unused blocks job (without telling me so).

The HD scratched for about 5 minutes but when it was done, my DB was 1 gig less than before !

[Steven H. Blackwell]

>So what you are suggesting is :

- Close the file in FMP server.

- Open and close it in FMP.

Yes I would do that for added safety, particularly on a file of that size.

> Just closing it and re-openeing it in FMP server won't do the trick ?

I didn't say that; this is a safety issue, and opening and closing the file in FileMaker Pro is the safest process.

Old Advance Man

[cinolas]

We are serving about 30 DBs with FMP Server 5.0 on win2k server.

Our client DB contains pictures of clients and, with over 23,000 records was getting very large (approx 1.3 gig). We proceeded to archive and remove the pictures that were not useful anymore (over 1 gig of them).

I know that when using FMP, one has to close the database to trigger the "scanning for unused blocks/removing unused blocks" process.

Is there a way to remove unused blocks from my client DB, served by FMP Server, without closing it ?

[cinolas]

Well, I did both (for safety reasons). The Scanning for unused blocks/Removing unused blocks process happened when closing the file from FMP server and nothing happened when closing it from FMP.

Thanks for your help, I wouldn't want to take a chance with this file so i'm happy I went the safe way.