Share via

Backup database results in error “Could not clear 'DIFFERENTIAL' bitmap in database”

  • Article

I recently ran into yet another issue, where the error message had absolutely no relation to the final solution. When trying to back up a database, we were getting the following error:

Msg 18273, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

Could not clear 'DIFFERENTIAL' bitmap in database 'RS_newTempDB' because of error 9002. As a result, the differential or bulk-logged bitmap overstates the amount of change that will occur with the next differential or log backup. This discrepancy might slow down later differential or log backup operations and

cause the backup sets to be larger than necessary. Typically, the cause of this error is insufficient resources. Investigate the failure and resolve the cause. If the error

occurred on a data backup, consider taking a data backup to create a new base for future differential backups.

When checking the database properties, I noticed that the log file for the DB was just 504 KB in size, and it’s autogrowth was set to 1 percent. Now, since I had seen issues with keeping the autogrowth for log files low in the past (the famous VLF’s issue, which impacts startup and recovery of the DB), I suggested that we increase it. We set the Autogrowth to something like 100 MB, and voila, the backup completed successfully.

Hope this helps someone.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 26, 2012
    Hello there, I ran into the same error while setting up some maintenance plans, and your work around worked like a charm. Thanks for posting that!! --Shawn

  • Anonymous
    September 26, 2012
    Hi Shawn...thanks so much for appreciating. Glad to know it helped.

  • Anonymous
    May 20, 2014
    Thank you so much for the work around. I was having the same issue and this worked like a charm. Thanks again for sharing.

  • Anonymous
    May 27, 2014
    Hi Amy, Thanks a lot for your kind words. I'm glad you found the blog useful. Regards, Harsh

  • Anonymous
    June 17, 2014
    Thanks Harsh..It helped me resolve the issue..

  • Anonymous
    June 18, 2014
    Thanks Phani for appreciating...glad to know it worked.

  • Anonymous
    June 23, 2014
    Thank you Harsh Deep

  • Anonymous
    June 23, 2014
    You're very welcome Johan....thanks for appreciating.

  • Anonymous
    February 04, 2015
    Straight solution. Many thanks for sharing Mr. HarshDeep Singh

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2015
    Thank you for your straight work around solution.

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2015
    Hi Mohammed and Prem, Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad to know you were able to benefit from the solution. Regards, Harsh

  • Anonymous
    October 03, 2015
    It was useful for me. Thank you very much :)