How to reduce the transaction log file

Hi all,

I know this topic has been discussed in the past, but I still don't quite get it. So please be patient with me

database size created with automatically growth of 10% with unrestricted file growth.

database size = 5 Gb used 4.5 GB (taskpad)
transaction log=8GB used 54MB (taskpad) 7.5 GB free
database run in FULL mode

full backup nightly, transaction log backup every 30 min

What should I do to free up the space that are not used in the transaction log.

Thanks for your help.DBCC SHRINKFILE
( { file_name | file_id }
{ [ , target_size ]
| [ , { EMPTYFILE | NOTRUNCATE | TRUNCATEONLY } ]
}
)|||How big is your hard drive?

If it's like 90GB...don't worry about it...

I'd be more worried though about unrestricted growth...

but you maint plan seems pretty good, and 7 gb for a tranny I would doubt would blow out...|||Doesn't your half hourly transaction log backup clear the space automatically?|||Originally posted by suresh_m_kumar
Doesn't your half hourly transaction log backup clear the space automatically?

No. that is why I don't understand|||The tranny backup every 30 min will truncate the log, but transaction log file (*ldf) is not automatically shrunk witht he truncation - see the post above with the syntax for DBCC shrink file - once you do this, the 30 min backups should keep the log to a more manageable size.|||Originally posted by joejcheng
DBCC SHRINKFILE
( { file_name | file_id }
{ [ , target_size ]
| [ , { EMPTYFILE | NOTRUNCATE | TRUNCATEONLY } ]
}
)

What option should I take : Truncateonly ??
[ , { EMPTYFILE | NOTRUNCATE | TRUNCATEONLY }|||You will want to use truncateonly I belive, so the freed space will be allocated back to the OS. Read this for an explanation of the options, or use the BOL:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/tsqlref/ts_dbcc_8b51.asp