FIX: PAGE compression is removed from a SQL Server 2008 data table after you shrink the database

Consider the following scenario:

• In Microsoft SQL Server 2008, you have a table without a clustered index.
• You enable PAGE compression on the table.
• You shrink the database.

In this scenario, PAGE compression may be removed.

Note ROW compression will not be affected by this problem. This includes scenarios in which ROW compression is being used directly and scenarios in which ROW compression is used as part of PAGE compression.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2008. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Cumulative update information

The fix for this issue was first released in Cumulative Update 4. For more information about how to obtain this cumulative update package for SQL Server 2008, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:Note Because the builds are cumulative, each new fix release contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous SQL Server 2008 fix release. We recommend that you consider applying the most recent fix release that contains this hotfix. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1. Create clustered index on the table.
2. Shrink the database.
3. Drop the clustered index.

Note All these operations can be done when the database status is ONLINE.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1.

You can run the following command to expose the number of the pages that are compressed:For more information about what files are changed, and for information about any prerequisites to apply the cumulative update package that contains the hotfix that is described in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information about the list of builds that are available after the release of SQL Server 2008, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the Incremental Servicing Model for SQL Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the naming schema for SQL Server updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: