Use Toolbox to shrink dataset....good practice?
I learned about shrinking the dataset in this thread:
https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/iphone-ipod-touch-ip...
My largest set of accounts holds 21 years of data, and the Data file is 28MB. This is hardly a concern for disk usage, so is there another benefit to shrinking the dataset in Toolbox?
Thanks
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1 Posted by dtd on Dec 21, 2022 @ 08:45 AM
just a user
28 mb is actually pretty small, so probably not a concern.
I had 35 years of data, my data file was 180mb, and it was shrunk to 90mb, which was pretty cool.
I mean you could try it (maybe 28mb becomes 20mb), but I wouldn't bother with a file that size.
but to answer your question - if everything is aok, I don't think there is any major benefit to shrinking it.
2 Posted by boreham on Dec 21, 2022 @ 08:52 AM
Thanks @dtd.
Yes, this is a definitely a candidate for if it works leave it alone.
Even 180MB is trivial for disk space usage. hence my curiosity about when the Toolbox shrink tool would ever be used.
3 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Dec 21, 2022 @ 09:01 AM
The key point is that your dataset might be 5MB for example but with an additional 23MB of old sync data txn files (for example). The size itself is no issue. BUT the thousands of old txn files (which are not needed) can slow down and confuse sync. When you use shrink, all the old txn change files get deleted leaving just your dataset.
NOTE: shrink does not actually touch your financial data. It’s all there before and after the shrink.
In addition, having a 200MB dataset consumes disk space and slows down backups. If you have the setting to keep 30 days of backups then that’s potentially 6GB of disk space.
Out of interest, can you click analyse dataset and objects and upload the output. Let’s see what’s inside your 28MB?
4 Posted by boreham on Dec 21, 2022 @ 09:53 AM
I guess this screenshot contains the interesting info. Hope it is legible.
Looks like it might shrink from 28.2 to 10.8MB?
5 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Dec 21, 2022 @ 10:40 AM
Yup. About 11mb. No harm in running but also not much point. It’s up to you.
6 Posted by boreham on Dec 21, 2022 @ 11:21 AM
Did it anyway. All seems to have worked OK. Thanks very much!
7 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Dec 21, 2022 @ 11:27 AM
Toolbox 🧰 +1 😃
8 Posted by boreham on Dec 21, 2022 @ 11:44 AM
I was half expecting that I would need to this on my secondary Mac, as well, since it is the local database that has been pruned, but see that secondary Mac database has also been pruned, presumably by the sync process.
Or is that Secondary Mac did not have as many log files anyway? The Database file on Secondary Mac is now 20.7MB
9 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Dec 21, 2022 @ 12:39 PM
Dropbox sync would recognise the files have gone and it would sync the same file changes. Either that or it’s voodoo magic!
10 Posted by boreham on Dec 21, 2022 @ 12:47 PM
Thanks! I'll go with the Dropbox explanation!
11 Posted by TonyRI on Dec 21, 2022 @ 12:50 PM
I never knew about this Toolbox function and gave it a try.
My Dataset size went from 65.7MB to 18.1MB. I don't really care about the space that MD takes, however the "Export backup" time was reduced dramatically! I used to have to wait several seconds for the process to occur, Now it is practically immediate!
Thanks for posting and Thanks Stuart!
12 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on Dec 21, 2022 @ 01:49 PM
👍 Toolbox 🧰 +2 😃
Maddy closed this discussion on Jan 18, 2023 @ 10:00 AM.