How to Backup a SQL database and then compress size

WARNING: This is mere guideline, we do not enforce it and it should be at your own discretion to apply/follow it.

In this document you will find how you can Backup a SQL database and then compress its size in case the clients Database is throwing a Error message saying either: The transaction log is Full or The database disk is full

Steps:

Open SQL management studio

Open Databases

Right click on the database you want to backup and select tasks then backup

You should use the Backup type: Full when the client requires point-in-time recovery of their database.

You should use the Backup type: Simple when the client doesn't need point-in-time recovery of their database, or when the last full or differential backup is sufficient as a recovery point.

Set the backup set will expire to 14 days

And chose where to save your backup to (best practice is to save to a different drive)

Click OK to start backup

Once backup has completed

Return to the Sql Management studio and right click on your database again, select task and select shrink, finally select files (this will compress the log files)

Test your users connection to the database via Casewise now

If there is still a problem

Return to the Sql Management studio and right click on your database again, select task and select shrink, finally select Database (This can corrupt your database which is why we took the backup, this should only be done as a last resort)