Question

I inhereited a database with tables with many nvarchar columns. The tables were getting fairly large, and I decided to change the datatypes to varchar to cut storage because we do not use international characters. The “data space” on the table (Right-click, then “Properties”) has not changed. However, if I copy this table into a new table, the data space used there is about 60% the size of the original table.

I have used ‘DBCC CLEANTABLE’ in other instances to reclaim space after DROPPING a variable-length column. But this doesn’t seem to work when CHANGING variable length data types. How do I go about getting this space back?

For those not familiar with DBCC CLEANTABLE, MS has a good article on it with sample code against AdventureWorks.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174418(SQL.90).aspx

Answer 1

Rebuild the clustered index if the DBCC does not work.