Index deletion and Backup size

If I delete some huge non-clustered indexes will the backup size of that database also decrease?

I am facing issue with huge backup files and don't have enough disk space to hold those backups.

I have some unused indexes of size 40 GB and above; if I delete this index will the backup file size reduce?

If you delete 40GB of indexes, then certain backups will be smaller, such as:

• Full

• File

• Filegroup

Some backups won't generally be smaller, such as:

• Log

Differential backups (Full, File, Filegroup) may or may not be much smaller as it depends if any objects those non-clustered indexes are created on are actually having data modifications happening.

Some backup sizes might not go down by 40GB, if for example compression is already being used or those indexes are on a read_only filegroup that isn't generally backed up via filegroup backups.

However, overall, the answer is "Yes, it should be smaller".

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#226937, answer score: 4