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title Estimate the Size of a Database | Microsoft Docs
ms.custom
ms.date 03/01/2017
ms.prod sql-server-2016
ms.reviewer
ms.suite
ms.technology
database-engine
ms.tgt_pltfrm
ms.topic article
helpviewer_keywords
space allocation [SQL Server], database size
calculating database size
increasing database size
database size [SQL Server], estimating
predicting database size
size [SQL Server], databases
estimating database size
designing databases [SQL Server], estimating size
ms.assetid 5b240161-eba4-44b0-946c-61a8fc00fc8c
caps.latest.revision 20
author BYHAM
ms.author rickbyh
manager jhubbard

Estimate the Size of a Database

When you design a database, you may have to estimate how large the database will be when filled with data. Estimating the size of the database can help you determine the hardware configuration you will require to do the following:

  • Achieve the performance required by your applications.

  • Guarantee the appropriate physical amount of disk space required to store the data and indexes.

Estimating the size of a database can also help you determine whether the database design needs refining. For example, you may determine that the estimated size of the database is too large to implement in your organization and that more normalization is required. Conversely, the estimated size may be smaller than expected. This would allow you to denormalize the database to improve query performance.

To estimate the size of a database, estimate the size of each table individually and then add the values obtained. The size of a table depends on whether the table has indexes and, if they do, what type of indexes.

In This Section

Topic Description
Estimate the Size of a Table Defines the steps and calculations needed to estimate the amount of space required to store the data in a table and associated indexes.
Estimate the Size of a Heap Defines the steps and calculations needed to estimate the amount of space required to store the data in a heap. A heap is a table that does not have a clustered index.
Estimate the Size of a Clustered Index Defines the steps and calculations needed to estimate the amount of space required to store the data in a clustered index.
Estimate the Size of a Nonclustered Index Defines the steps and calculations needed to estimate the amount of space required to store the data in a nonclustered index.