I apologize for the long question. I am trying to learn a lot on the fly as I have become the defacto SQL Admin. I have been tasked with moving a production database to a new server. My goal is to take a full backup and restore the database on new server. My question is focused around the concept of shrinking a database.
I have a production database almost 3 terabytes in size. There are 5 tables no longer needed. Combined the 5 tables account for almost 700GB. My thought process was to remove the 5 tables to save myself a considerable amount of space (700gb) before taking a full backup. I am learning real quick it is not as easy as it sounds. I removed the 5 tables using the drop
command but then learned deleting tables will not actually free up any space. In order to free up space I must shrink the database. This is where I run into conflicting opinions. I am reading you do not want to shrink a database unless you have to.
Can someone please point me in the right direction. Now that I have deleted the tables should I shrink the database before I perform the full backup? Will shrinking the database have a negative effect?