Microsoft SQL Server databases can grow from a few gigabytes to hundreds of gigabytes or even several terabytes. When such databases need to be protected through a cloud backup solution such as NoSky Cloud Backup, one of the first questions administrators and businesses normally ask is:

“If my SQL database is 500 GB, will I have to upload and store 500 GB every time it is backed up?”

Not necessarily.

Several technologies can potentially reduce the amount of storage and Internet bandwidth required:

SQL Server backup compression → backup software compression → deduplication → incremental/change-based transfer → retention management

However, these technologies should not be confused with one another. A database may compress very well but still generate large subsequent backups if the cloud backup system treats every new .BAK file as completely new data. Conversely, a database that does not compress particularly well may still require very little daily bandwidth if the backup platform efficiently identifies and transfers only changed data.

This article explains how SQL database compression works, what compression ratios can reasonably be expected, how SQL Server's own backup technology interacts with a cloud backup solution such as NoSky, and how organizations should calculate storage and bandwidth requirements.

Important: Exact compression, deduplication, incremental-transfer and SQL-aware backup capabilities are product- and configuration-specific. Therefore, references to NoSky in this article describe the considerations that should be evaluated when deploying NoSky for SQL workloads; they should not be interpreted as a guarantee of a particular NoSky compression or deduplication ratio unless confirmed for the specific NoSky service and configuration.

1. What Is SQL Database Backup Compression?

A live Microsoft SQL Server database normally consists primarily of files such as:

• .MDF — primary database file
• .NDF — secondary database file, where applicable
• .LDF — transaction log file

Instead of simply copying these active database files, administrators commonly use SQL Server's backup engine to create backup sets, frequently stored in .BAK files.

SQL Server can compress these backups.

Microsoft states that a compressed backup is smaller than an uncompressed backup of the same data. Because less data has to be written to the backup device, compression can also reduce device I/O and frequently improve backup speed.

The basic process becomes:

SQL Database

↓

SQL Backup Engine

↓

Backup Compression

↓

Compressed Backup File

↓

NoSky / Cloud Backup

↓

Offsite Storage

This can dramatically reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored compared with keeping an uncompressed SQL backup.

2. How Much Can an SQL Database Be Compressed?

There is no universal compression percentage.

A 500 GB database cannot automatically be assumed to produce a 200 GB backup.

Compression depends on the actual contents of the database.

As a capacity-planning estimate rather than a guarantee, many conventional business databases might fall somewhere in a broad range such as:

Original Data Size	Illustrative Compressed Size	Illustrative Saving
10 GB	3–7 GB	30–70%
50 GB	15–35 GB	30–70%
100 GB	30–70 GB	30–70%
250 GB	75–175 GB	30–70%
500 GB	150–350 GB	30–70%
1 TB	300–700 GB	30–70%

These figures should not be used as a contractual NoSky sizing ratio. The safest approach is to perform an actual compressed SQL backup and measure it.

For example:

Database size: 500 GB
Compressed backup: 210 GB

Compression ratio:

500 / 210 = 2.38:1

Space reduction:

(500 - 210) / 500 × 100 = 58%

The backup therefore consumes approximately 42% of the original database size.

3. Why Some SQL Databases Compress Better Than Others

Compression effectiveness depends primarily on what SQL Server is storing.

A traditional accounting or ERP database may contain large quantities of:

• Ledger entries
• Invoice records
• Dates
• Numeric values
• Stock transactions
• Customer IDs
• Product codes
• Repeated descriptions
• GST/tax information
• References
• Status fields
• Repetitive structured records

Such structured data may contain patterns that compression algorithms can exploit.

A database containing large quantities of the following may compress considerably less:

• JPEG photographs
• MP4 video
• ZIP archives
• RAR archives
• PDF files that are already compressed
• Encrypted binary objects
• Random or high-entropy data
• Already compressed application data

Therefore:

500 GB accounting database ≠ 500 GB document-management database

even though SQL Server reports both databases as 500 GB.

4. Unused Space Can Also Affect Expectations

The allocated size of an SQL database file is not necessarily equal to the amount of meaningful business data stored inside it.

For example, an .MDF file could be:

500 GB allocated

while a significant portion of the database is unused/free space.

Therefore, estimating backup requirements simply from the Windows file size of the MDF can be misleading.

The correct method is to:

1. Determine database allocation and usage.
2. Create an actual SQL backup.
3. Enable compression.
4. Measure the resulting backup.
5. Observe several backup cycles.
6. Measure NoSky's actual uploaded and retained data.

5. SQL Server Native Backup Compression

SQL Server provides native backup compression.

Microsoft documents backup compression for supported SQL Server editions and explains that compression can reduce backup storage and device I/O.

A simplified T-SQL example is:

BACKUP DATABASE MyDatabase
TO DISK = 'D:\SQLBackup\MyDatabase.bak'
WITH COMPRESSION;

This tells SQL Server to create a compressed database backup.

Compression can also be configured as the default server-level behavior or overridden for individual backup jobs.

6. SQL Server 2025 and ZSTD Compression

An important newer development is SQL Server 2025.

Microsoft introduced ZSTD as a new backup compression algorithm in SQL Server 2025. Microsoft describes ZSTD as faster and more effective than the previous MS_XPRESS algorithm.

For supported environments, syntax can include:

BACKUP DATABASE MyDatabase
TO DISK = 'D:\SQLBackup\MyDatabase.bak'
WITH COMPRESSION (ALGORITHM = ZSTD);

This can be particularly interesting for organizations managing large SQL databases where backup size, backup windows and cloud-transfer requirements matter.

7. Compression and CPU Usage

Compression does not come completely free.

The SQL Server CPU has to perform compression calculations while the backup is running.

Conceptually:

Without compression

More disk/network I/O
Lower compression-related CPU workload

With compression

Less data written
Less backup storage
Potentially less network transfer
Higher CPU usage during compression

Microsoft specifically notes the performance trade-off and provides mechanisms such as Resource Governor for controlling CPU consumption associated with backup compression.

On a heavily utilized production SQL server, backup schedules should therefore be planned carefully.

8. SQL Compression and NoSky Compression Are Not Necessarily the Same Thing

This distinction is extremely important.

Suppose SQL Server creates:

500 GB database → 200 GB compressed .BAK

NoSky may then back up that 200 GB file.

If the backup file is already highly compressed, applying another general-purpose compression algorithm may produce relatively little additional reduction.

Therefore:

500 GB

↓

SQL Compression

↓

200 GB

↓

NoSky Compression

↓

might become 190 GB, rather than another dramatic reduction to 80 GB.

This is normal.

Compression algorithms generally achieve less when their input has already been compressed effectively.

9. Compression Is Different From Deduplication

These terms are frequently confused.

Compression

Compression reduces redundancy inside a body of data.

Example:

100 GB → 45 GB

Deduplication

Deduplication attempts to avoid storing identical data repeatedly.

Suppose five backups contain many identical blocks.

Instead of storing:

Backup 1 + Backup 2 + Backup 3 + Backup 4 + Backup 5

as five completely independent copies, an appropriate deduplication system may retain common blocks once and reference them from multiple recovery points.

Therefore, compression answers:

“How small can this data become?”

Deduplication answers:

“How much of this data have I already stored?”

10. Why Incremental Backup Is So Important

For cloud backup, compression is only one part of the equation.

Consider a 500 GB SQL database.

Suppose:

Compressed full backup = 200 GB

If a completely new 200 GB backup had to be uploaded four times every day:

200 GB × 4 = 800 GB/day

That would require enormous Internet bandwidth and cloud storage.

But suppose only 5 GB of relevant data changes during the day.

A suitable incremental/change-aware architecture could potentially transfer far less data after the initial backup.

Conceptually:

Initial Backup

500 GB database
↓
200 GB compressed representation
↓
200 GB initial upload

Subsequent Backup

Only changed data
↓
Deduplication/change detection
↓
Much smaller upload

This is why the first backup and subsequent backup should be treated separately when estimating cloud requirements.

11. Full Backup vs Differential Backup vs Transaction Log Backup

SQL Server itself provides several backup types.

Full Backup

A full backup protects the entire database at that backup point.

For example:

500 GB database → Full Backup

This becomes the recovery foundation for subsequent backup operations.

Differential Backup

A differential backup contains changes made since the most recent full backup.

Microsoft explains that differential backups can be significantly faster and smaller than repeated full backups because they contain only data changed since the differential base.

Example:

Sunday:

Full = 200 GB compressed

Monday:

Differential = 10 GB

Tuesday:

Additional changes occurred, so differential might become:

18 GB

Wednesday:

27 GB

The differential is cumulative relative to its full-backup base, so it can become progressively larger. Microsoft therefore recommends establishing new full backups periodically.

12. Transaction Log Backup

For databases operating under an appropriate recovery model, transaction log backups provide much finer recovery capability.

Microsoft recommends frequent transaction-log backups under the Full recovery model to reduce exposure to data loss and support recovery.

For example:

Sunday 12:00 AM — Full

Monday 12:00 AM — Differential

Then transaction log backups:

9:00 AM
9:15 AM
9:30 AM
9:45 AM
10:00 AM
10:15 AM

If a problem occurs around 10:17 AM, a properly designed backup chain may allow recovery very close to that point instead of restoring only the previous night's database.

13. Point-in-Time Recovery

Point-in-time recovery is one of the biggest differences between simply copying a database file and implementing a proper SQL backup strategy.

Under the Full recovery model, SQL Server can use the full backup, optional differential backup and subsequent transaction log backups to restore the database toward a specific recovery point.

A recovery sequence might look like:

Full Backup

↓

Latest Differential

↓

Transaction Log 1

↓

Transaction Log 2

↓

Transaction Log 3

↓

Desired Recovery Time

This can be extremely valuable after:

• Accidental deletion
• Incorrect bulk update
• Application corruption
• User error
• Failed software upgrade
• Database damage
• Ransomware incident

14. Why Simply Backing Up MDF and LDF Files May Not Be Ideal

An SQL database is an active transactional system.

Simply copying .MDF and .LDF files while SQL Server is running is not equivalent to creating an application-consistent SQL backup unless the backup product uses an appropriate SQL/VSS-aware method.

This is why organizations evaluating NoSky for SQL should determine whether the solution provides:

SQL-aware/application-consistent protection

or simply:

file-level protection of SQL-related files.

The difference can become critical during disaster recovery.

15. The .BAK File Problem With Cloud Deduplication

Another important technical issue occurs when organizations create a new compressed .BAK file and then tell their cloud backup software to back up that file.

Suppose:

Monday:

SQLBackup.bak = 200 GB

Tuesday:

A completely new:

SQLBackup.bak = 202 GB

Even though perhaps only a small percentage of the logical database changed, the newly generated compressed backup file can appear substantially different at the binary/block level.

Depending on the cloud backup technology, this can reduce deduplication efficiency.

Therefore, administrators should determine exactly how NoSky handles:

• New .BAK files
• Changed blocks
• Compressed files
• SQL-native backups
• Incremental backups
• Deduplication
• Synthetic full backups, if supported
• Retention versions

16. Example: 500 GB SQL Database

Consider a practical example.

Production Database

500 GB

Assume an actual test shows:

SQL compressed full backup = 210 GB

Therefore:

210 / 500 = 42%

The backup is approximately 42% of the original database size, representing about:

58% storage reduction

Now suppose the organization performs four cloud protection cycles every day.

If each backup were independently uploaded as 210 GB:

210 × 4 = 840 GB/day

Monthly:

840 × 30 = 25,200 GB

or approximately:

25.2 TB/month

Clearly, repeatedly uploading independent full backups would be inefficient.

17. What Happens With Incremental Technology?

Suppose the first backup requires:

210 GB

and the actual changed data between backup cycles averages only:

2 GB

Four backup cycles might look conceptually like:

Backup	Data
Initial Full	210 GB
Incremental 1	2 GB
Incremental 2	2 GB
Incremental 3	2 GB
Incremental 4	2 GB

Instead of transferring another:

840 GB

only approximately:

8 GB of changed information

might need to be handled after the baseline, if the backup architecture can identify and transfer changes at that efficiency.

This example is deliberately illustrative. Actual NoSky transfer size needs to be measured because metadata, changed-block boundaries, compression, deduplication behavior and backup architecture all affect the result.

18. Internet Bandwidth Matters

Cloud backup performance is frequently limited by upload speed, not download speed.

Suppose the first backup is:

200 GB

Approximate raw transfer times under ideal conditions would be:

Upload Speed	Approx. Theoretical Time
20 Mbps	22.2 hours
50 Mbps	8.9 hours
100 Mbps	4.4 hours
200 Mbps	2.2 hours
500 Mbps	53 minutes
1 Gbps	27 minutes

Real-world backup times will normally be longer because of protocol overhead, Internet conditions, server load, throttling, encryption, backup processing and cloud-side behavior.

Therefore, compression and incremental transfer can have an enormous impact on cloud-backup feasibility.

19. Does Encryption Affect Compression?

Yes.

Compression works by identifying redundancy and patterns.

Encryption intentionally makes data appear highly random.

Therefore:

Data → Compression → Encryption

is generally much more compression-friendly than:

Data → Encryption → Compression

SQL Server's interaction between backup compression and Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) has specific behavior depending on SQL Server version and backup configuration. Microsoft explicitly documents special considerations for backup compression with TDE.

Organizations using TDE should therefore benchmark their own databases instead of relying on generic compression estimates.

20. Should SQL Backup Be Compressed Before Sending It to NoSky?

In many deployments, SQL-native compression can be beneficial because it can:

• Reduce local backup storage
• Reduce backup-device I/O
• Reduce the amount of data presented to subsequent systems
• Potentially shorten backup time
• Make local .BAK retention more practical

However, the optimum configuration depends on how NoSky performs deduplication and incremental processing.

If NoSky achieves better deduplication from uncompressed data than from newly compressed .BAK files, SQL-side compression could change cloud-storage efficiency.

Therefore, test both architectures where practical.

21. Recommended Test Before Finalizing Cloud Storage

Instead of estimating a customer's storage purely from database size, conduct a practical test.

Day 1

Record:

Database allocated size

Database used size

SQL compressed full backup size

NoSky uploaded size

NoSky cloud storage consumed

Day 2

Record:

Database growth

New backup size

Changed data uploaded by NoSky

Cloud storage increase

Repeat this for approximately one week.

You can then calculate the customer's real-world deduplication and compression behavior.

22. Compression Ratio Formula

SQL administrators can calculate the actual backup compression ratio.

Microsoft's SQL backup documentation describes compression ratio using the relationship between uncompressed backup size and compressed backup size.

A simple formula is:

Compression Ratio = Uncompressed Backup Size / Compressed Backup Size

Example:

500 GB / 200 GB = 2.5

Therefore:

Compression Ratio = 2.5:1

Another useful calculation is storage reduction:

Storage Saving % = (Original - Compressed) / Original × 100

Example:

(500 - 200) / 500 × 100

= 60% saving

23. Compression Is Not the Same as Database Shrinking

This distinction is important.

Backup compression does NOT shrink the production database.

If the database is:

500 GB

and its backup becomes:

200 GB

the production database does not become 200 GB.

Compression affects the backup representation, not the live database allocation.

This should not be confused with SQL Server database shrinking operations.

24. Cloud Retention Changes the Storage Calculation

Suppose a business wants:

• 4 backups per day
• Daily recovery points
• Weekly recovery points
• Monthly recovery points
• Annual archives

The total cloud storage requirement cannot be calculated simply as:

Database Size × Number of Backups

when deduplication/incremental storage is involved.

For example, 100 recovery points do not necessarily mean:

200 GB × 100 = 20 TB

because many blocks may be common among recovery points.

The correct storage calculation depends on:

Initial backup + unique changed data + retention duration + deduplication efficiency + metadata/overhead

25. Why Long-Term Retention Can Still Grow Significantly

Deduplication does not mean unlimited retention consumes almost no space.

Imagine an ERP database where historical records are constantly added.

Every day new:

• Invoices
• Purchases
• Ledger entries
• Inventory transactions
• Attachments
• GST records
• Audit data

are generated.

Those records are genuinely new data.

Therefore, cloud storage continues growing.

Retention planning remains essential.

26. SQL Backup Strategy for a Business-Critical Database

A possible architecture might be:

Weekly Full Backup

•  

Daily Differential Backup

•  

Frequent Transaction Log Backup

•  

Offsite NoSky Cloud Protection

•  

Defined Retention

•  

Periodic Restore Testing

This combines SQL-native recovery capabilities with offsite protection.

Microsoft itself gives an example architecture involving occasional full backups, shorter-interval differential backups and frequent transaction-log backups.

The correct schedule, however, should be determined by the organization's RPO and RTO.

27. What Is RPO?

RPO = Recovery Point Objective

It answers:

“How much recent data can the business afford to lose?”

If the organization can tolerate losing at most:

15 minutes of SQL transactions

then the backup/recovery architecture should target approximately that recovery requirement.

A once-per-day backup cannot satisfy a 15-minute RPO.

28. What Is RTO?

RTO = Recovery Time Objective

It answers:

“How quickly must the SQL database be operational again?”

For example:

Database size: 1 TB

RPO: 15 minutes

RTO: 2 hours

The backup system must not only retain enough recovery information; it must also be capable of restoring that information fast enough.

A backup is useful only if it can be successfully restored within the organization's required timeframe.

29. Backup Verification Is Essential

A successful backup job message does not automatically guarantee a successful disaster recovery.

Organizations should periodically perform:

• Backup integrity verification
• Test restores
• SQL database consistency checks
• Recovery-chain testing
• Point-in-time recovery testing
• Alternate-server recovery testing
• Disaster recovery drills

This is particularly important for mission-critical SQL databases.

30. Questions to Ask NoSky Before Deploying SQL Backup

Before designing SQL backup storage around NoSky, obtain clear answers to these questions:

1. Is NoSky Microsoft SQL Server aware?
2. Does it create application-consistent SQL backups?
3. Does it support VSS-based SQL protection?
4. Does it back up MDF/LDF directly or SQL-generated backups?
5. Does it support full SQL backup?
6. Does it support differential SQL backup?
7. Does it protect transaction logs?
8. Does it support point-in-time SQL recovery?
9. Does it perform compression before uploading?
10. What compression algorithm is used?
11. Is compression performed client-side or cloud-side?
12. Is deduplication supported?
13. Is deduplication block-level or file-level?
14. Is deduplication performed before uploading?
15. Does encryption occur before or after deduplication?
16. How does it handle newly generated compressed .BAK files?
17. How much changed data is normally uploaded after the first backup?
18. How is retention calculated?
19. Does each recovery point consume a complete database-sized allocation?
20. Can individual databases be restored?
21. Can databases be restored to another SQL server?
22. Can recovery be tested without affecting production?
23. Is bandwidth throttling available?
24. Are backup windows configurable?
25. What happens if the Internet connection fails during backup?

These answers provide a much more meaningful assessment than asking only:

“What is the compression percentage?”

31. Compression vs Incremental vs Deduplication

A simple way to understand the technologies is:

Technology	Primary Purpose
Compression	Makes data smaller
Incremental Backup	Protects changes since a previous backup
Differential Backup	Protects changes since the last full SQL backup
Transaction Log Backup	Protects SQL transaction history
Deduplication	Avoids repeatedly storing identical data
Encryption	Protects backup confidentiality
Retention	Determines how long recovery points remain available

A good enterprise backup architecture may use several of these technologies together.

32. Example of an Optimized Architecture

Consider:

SQL Database = 1 TB

An actual compressed SQL backup test produces:

420 GB

Therefore, the initial backup representation is approximately:

42% of database size

or approximately:

58% smaller than the uncompressed figure.

Suppose average unique daily change is approximately 10 GB.

An efficient cloud backup architecture might therefore behave conceptually like:

Day 1

420 GB initial backup

Day 2

Changed data

Day 3

Changed data

Day 4

Changed data

and so on.

The exact cloud consumption will depend on NoSky's implementation and cannot safely be predicted from SQL compression alone.

33. Why Four Backups Per Day Does Not Necessarily Mean Four Times the Storage

This is one of the most important concepts for customers to understand.

Suppose:

Database = 500 GB

Four backups per day do not automatically mean:

500 GB × 4 = 2 TB/day

Likewise, even if the compressed backup is 200 GB, it does not automatically mean:

200 GB × 4 = 800 GB/day

If the backup platform uses efficient incremental and deduplicated storage, multiple recovery points can share unchanged data.

Therefore, frequency and storage are not necessarily directly proportional.

But this must be verified against the actual NoSky backup method.

34. Does More Frequent Backup Increase Storage?

Usually yes, but not necessarily in direct proportion.

If four recovery points capture only small changes between them, the additional storage may be relatively modest.

If enormous quantities of data change between every backup, storage consumption can increase substantially.

Therefore:

Backup frequency + change rate + retention + deduplication

must all be considered together.

35. SQL Database Compression and Ransomware Protection

Compression itself does not provide ransomware protection.

A compressed backup can still be:

• Deleted
• Encrypted
• Corrupted
• Overwritten

depending on how it is stored and protected.

A ransomware-resilient architecture should consider features such as:

• Offsite storage
• Strong access control
• MFA
• Separate backup credentials
• Retention protection
• Versioning
• Immutability, where available
• Restore testing
• Restricted deletion privileges

Compression is primarily a storage/performance technology, not a security boundary.

36. Frequently Asked Questions — FAQ

Q1. How much can an SQL database backup compress?

There is no fixed percentage. The result depends on the database contents, SQL Server version, encryption and compression algorithm. For planning, conventional structured business databases may sometimes show substantial reductions, but the actual compressed backup should always be measured.

Q2. Can a 500 GB SQL database become a 200 GB backup?

Yes, it is possible.

That would represent approximately:

60% reduction

and a:

2.5:1 compression ratio.

However, it is not guaranteed.

Q3. Can a 500 GB database compress to 50 GB?

It is theoretically possible for exceptionally repetitive/compressible data, but it should not be assumed for normal production databases.

Always test the actual database.

Q4. Will NoSky upload the entire SQL database every time?

That depends on NoSky's backup method, incremental technology and deduplication architecture.

This should be confirmed through product documentation and an actual backup test.

Q5. Is SQL backup compression the same as NoSky compression?

No.

SQL Server can compress its own backup. A cloud backup product may independently provide additional compression.

Q6. Can an already compressed .BAK file be compressed again?

Yes, but the additional saving may be small because much of the redundancy may already have been removed.

Q7. Does compression reduce the size of the live SQL database?

No.

It reduces the size of the backup, not the production MDF database itself.

Q8. What is deduplication?

Deduplication identifies data that has already been stored and attempts to avoid storing duplicate copies unnecessarily.

Q9. Is deduplication better than compression?

They perform different functions.

The most efficient backup architectures may use both.

Q10. What is an incremental backup?

An incremental backup protects data that has changed relative to a previous backup state rather than repeatedly transferring all data.

Q11. What is an SQL differential backup?

Microsoft defines a differential backup as one containing changes made since its associated full backup.

Q12. Does a differential backup become larger every day?

It can.

Because it accumulates changes relative to its full-backup base, its size generally grows as more extents are modified.

Q13. What is a transaction log backup?

It protects transaction log records and, under appropriate recovery models, forms part of the recovery chain used for fine-grained recovery.

Q14. Can SQL Server be restored to a particular time?

Yes, under an appropriately configured recovery model and valid backup/log chain, SQL Server supports point-in-time recovery.

Q15. Does SQL backup compression increase CPU usage?

Yes. Compression requires CPU processing, although the reduction in I/O can improve overall backup performance in many environments.

Q16. Does SQL Server 2025 provide better backup compression?

SQL Server 2025 introduces the ZSTD backup compression algorithm. Microsoft describes it as faster and more effective than the previous MS_XPRESS algorithm.

Q17. Is a .BAK file enough for SQL disaster recovery?

A .BAK full backup can be a fundamental component, but business-critical environments may also require differential backups, transaction logs, offsite copies, appropriate retention and tested recovery procedures.

Q18. Should MDF and LDF files simply be copied to cloud storage?

For an active production database, SQL-aware/application-consistent backup is generally preferable to treating active database files as ordinary files.

Q19. What matters more for cloud backup: compression or incremental backup?

Both matter, but for frequently repeated cloud backups, the amount of changed data that must be transferred and retained can be more important than the compression ratio alone.

Q20. How should NoSky storage be estimated for SQL Server?

Do not calculate it only from MDF size.

Measure:

Actual database → actual compressed backup → first NoSky upload → subsequent upload sizes → daily change rate → retention

This provides a much more reliable capacity estimate.

Conclusion

When backing up Microsoft SQL Server to a cloud backup platform such as NoSky, asking “How much compression will I get?” is only the beginning of the discussion.

The complete equation is:

SQL Database Size

↓

Actual Used Data

↓

SQL Backup Compression

↓

NoSky Backup Processing

↓

Deduplication / Change Detection

↓

Incremental Transfer

↓

Encryption

↓

Retention

↓

Actual Cloud Storage Consumption

A 500 GB SQL database could potentially produce a much smaller compressed backup, but there is no universal compression percentage. The actual result depends on the data itself.

More importantly, if the business performs multiple backups every day, the key question becomes:

“After the first full backup, how much unique changed data must actually be uploaded and stored for each additional recovery point?”

That determines the real Internet bandwidth and long-term cloud-storage requirement.

For business-critical SQL Server deployments, the strongest strategy is therefore not merely to maximize compression. It is to combine appropriate SQL-native backup methods, compression, efficient incremental/deduplicated cloud protection, sensible retention, transaction-log protection where required, and regular restore testing.

Microsoft's documentation confirms that compressed SQL backups can reduce backup size and I/O; differential backups contain changes since their full-backup base; and transaction-log backups can support much finer recovery under appropriate recovery models.

The final NoSky configuration should then be validated against a real production-style SQL database over several backup cycles. That real-world test gives the figures that matter most: compression ratio, first-upload size, subsequent changed-data upload, cloud-storage growth, backup duration and restore performance.

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