>But my disk space savings are less dramatic. A recent rebuild shrank my >mail database from 122.3 megs to 122 megs. > >Is there a point of diminishing returns as the database size increases?
I think the recovered space is simply a reflection of how much dead space is in the database from deleted mail. So you will see little change if you rebuild often, or don't delete much. It might also oddly be possible to see little change if you delete a ton of stuff. The reason is, if I understand the database correctly, it will attept to reuse space previously occupied by deleted messages. So if you delete a whole lot of stuff all the time, it will find large amounts of contigious space to fill with new messages. That means it will only loose the small bits of leftover space, which may not add up to much during a rebuild. So it would see to me, the person that would regain the most space, is a person that rarely rebuilds, has a decent size database, and deletes only a moderate amount of messages and only from time to time. The other thing to look at in terms of space gained is total size of the Mail folder. The Mail Database may not make as much of a change as the Mail Index file does. The Mail Index is a file holding... dun dun DAAA... the Index of everything in the Mail Database. But I don't believe the Index removes items belonging to deleted mail... ever. So that means each email added, regardless of if it is kept, will add a bit to the Index file. During a rebuild, that index file gets the chance to have all the unused index links removed. So you could see that file make a large change in size after a rebuild. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
