Not enough memory in the file group "Primary": SDE Database error with MSSQL

Question

I got this error message whilst trying to load data into a raster in ArcMap 10.0.

Underlying DBMS error [Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10.0: Eine neue Seite für die sde-Datenbank konnte nicht belegt werden, weil in der Dateigruppe 'PRIMARY' nicht genügend Speicherplatz verfügbar ist. Speicherplatz kann durch Löschen von Objekten in der Dateigruppe, Hinzufügen von Dateien zur Dateigruppe oder Festlegen der automatischen Vergrößerung für vorhandene Dateien in der Dateigruppe gewonnen werden.] Es ist kein Raumbezug vorhanden. Fehler beim Ausführen von (CreateRasterDataset).

A rough translation:

" A new page for the sde database couldn´t be allocated, because in the filegroup "PRIMARY" there is not enough disk space. Memory can be gained by deleting objects, adding files to the filegroup oder determining the automatic enlargement for existing Files."

The Database is an sde 9.3 File-Geodatabase which is on my harddrive and not in the MSSQL database.

Answer 1

This is more of a database issue than a GIS one. It's counterintuitive, but you need to increase allocation in order to delete data. If you add a new file to the filegroup, there should be enough space to drop the raster normally.

Another option is to TRUNCATE all the tables which participate in the raster, but depending on which filegroup has been exceeded, you still may need to add space to complete the transaction. NOTE: There may be an order-of-operation issue (due to foreign keys) if you try to truncate tables in all but the correct order -- try just truncating the BLK table first (effectively removing all tiles), then seeing if that will suffice.

Once you get the raster deleted, the database will continue to hold the storage associated with the data until you shrink the filegroup.

You can prevent this in the future by proactively creating additional filegroup(s) for BLK table storage and using a DBTUNE keyword at creation to specify the filegroup, though you really should consider using the rasters in an "unmanaged" form (leaving them on disk, and only using paths to the files in the database).