Database Backups

[csmith]

I've been backing up my database by just saving a copy of the database and dating it. I then keep using my original file. I noticed that my original file doubles in size every time I make a backup. What was once a 10 MB document is now 200 MB. What is a good way to shrink the size of my current database back to 10 MB? And what is the best way to do backups in the future? Note that the increase of my database's size has very little to do with new records; I've only added a few hundred, maybe a thousand, text-based records over the last four months.

Thanks!

[pbaldy]

Doing a compact/repair should shrink it back down. I'm pretty surprised that just copying it increases the size though.

[csmith]

I already did a compact/repair and it did nothing. I wonder if it is saving all previous saves somehow; this might explain why it is literally doubling each time I save. Any other thoughts as to what might be causing this bloat?

[davegri]

Do the backup copies load and run OK? Have you done a compact/repair on a copy?
What method are you using to create the copies?

[csmith]

The copies open fine. I've been "saving as" and then naming it "backup..." I stopped doing this recently and have been using the backup option. The old backups work fine. I did get it to compress a lot; I just ran the clean/compress this morning and it worked. The only thing I changed before running the clean/compress this morning was I moved all of those previously saved files to a new file with hopes that the current version of the database couldn't "find" them if it was "finding" them for some reason. Whether or not this is why it compressed correctly or not is not clear.

[davegri]

Hmmm. Another method would be to do a compact/repair on the original, then use copy/paste to copy the original to a new file name in the target backup folder.