Hey,

We have a table with a column and index that we don't need anymore, so we are trying to find the best way to get rid of them

Path 1) Create a new table with the updated schema (excluding that column and index), and insert from the old table into the new table
Path 2) Alter the original table to drop the column and index

The problem with either of these is that when we are done, the table size has grown significantly (~15%).

size of orig table: 2026.5G
size of new table after inserting all of the data or running the alter: 2473.5M
~~flush the table~~
size of orig table: 2026.5G
size of new table after inserting all of the data or running the alter: 2292.2M
~~optimize the table~~
size of new table after inserting all of the data or running the alter: 1912.7M

The only way to get the size of the new table below the size of the original table is by optimizing it (this holds true for innodb as well). Our problem is that since this table is so big, it takes long enough just to alter it, let alone optimize it afterwards.

Can anyone explain the best method for us to get rid of the column/index and reclaim the maximum amount of disk space? If we really need to alter + optimize that's okay, but I'd like to understand why that is. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!
Michael




Here's the schema of the original table. We want to drop columnF and key3


CREATE TABLE `tableT` (
`id` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`columnA` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL,
`columnB` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL,
`columnC` varchar(200) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnD` varchar(200) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnE` varchar(200) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnF` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`columnG` bigint(20) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`columnH` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnI` smallint(3) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnJ` smallint(3) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnK` smallint(3) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnL` smallint(3) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnM` smallint(3) DEFAULT '0',
`columnN` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnO` tinyint(4) DEFAULT '0',
`columnP` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL,
`columnQ` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`columnR` mediumint(8) unsigned NOT NULL,
`columnS` mediumint(8) unsigned NOT NULL,
`columnT` smallint(5) unsigned NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`,`columnR`),
UNIQUE KEY `unique1` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnN`,`columnA`,`columnK`,`columnO`,`columnM`) USING HASH,
UNIQUE KEY `unique2` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnN`,`columnL`,`columnM`) USING HASH,
UNIQUE KEY `unique3` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnO`,`columnI`) USING HASH,
UNIQUE KEY `unique4` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnJ`) USING HASH,
KEY `key1` (`columnQ`,`columnN`) USING BTREE,
KEY `key2` (`columnR`,`columnE`,`columnP`,`columnB`) USING HASH,
KEY `key3` (`columnB`,`columnF`,`columnN`,`columnA`,`columnR`) USING HASH,
KEY `key4` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnN`,`columnI`,`columnO`,`columnH`) USING HASH,
KEY `key5` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnJ`,`columnH`) USING HASH,
KEY `key6` (`columnR`,`columnN`,`columnA`,`columnH`,`columnI`,`columnB`,`columnO`) USING HASH,
KEY `key7` (`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnN`,`columnO`,`columnH`) USING HASH,
KEY `key8` (`columnB`,`columnG`,`columnN`,`columnA`,`columnR`) USING HASH,
KEY `key9` (`columnR`,`columnB`,`columnA`,`columnI`,`columnN`,`columnO`,`columnH`) USING HASH
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=529343873 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
/*!50100 PARTITION BY RANGE (columnR)
(PARTITION p0 VALUES LESS THAN (201001) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p1 VALUES LESS THAN (201002) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p8 VALUES LESS THAN (201009) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p18 VALUES LESS THAN (201019) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p19 VALUES LESS THAN (201020) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p22 VALUES LESS THAN (201023) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p24 VALUES LESS THAN (201025) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p35 VALUES LESS THAN (201036) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p37 VALUES LESS THAN (201038) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p40 VALUES LESS THAN (201041) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p41 VALUES LESS THAN (201042) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p42 VALUES LESS THAN (201043) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p43 VALUES LESS THAN (201044) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p44 VALUES LESS THAN (201045) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p45 VALUES LESS THAN (201046) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p46 VALUES LESS THAN (201047) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p47 VALUES LESS THAN (201048) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p48 VALUES LESS THAN (201049) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p49 VALUES LESS THAN (201050) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p51 VALUES LESS THAN (201052) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p54 VALUES LESS THAN (201102) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p57 VALUES LESS THAN (201105) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p59 VALUES LESS THAN (201107) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p65 VALUES LESS THAN (201113) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p66 VALUES LESS THAN (201114) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p67 VALUES LESS THAN (201115) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p68 VALUES LESS THAN (201116) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p69 VALUES LESS THAN (201117) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p70 VALUES LESS THAN (201118) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p71 VALUES LESS THAN (201119) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p72 VALUES LESS THAN (201120) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p73 VALUES LESS THAN (201121) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p74 VALUES LESS THAN (201122) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p75 VALUES LESS THAN (201123) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p76 VALUES LESS THAN (201124) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p77 VALUES LESS THAN (201125) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p78 VALUES LESS THAN (201126) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p79 VALUES LESS THAN (201127) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p80 VALUES LESS THAN (201128) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p81 VALUES LESS THAN (201129) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p82 VALUES LESS THAN (201130) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p83 VALUES LESS THAN (201131) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p84 VALUES LESS THAN (201132) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p85 VALUES LESS THAN (201133) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p86 VALUES LESS THAN (201134) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p87 VALUES LESS THAN (201135) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p88 VALUES LESS THAN (201136) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p89 VALUES LESS THAN (201137) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p90 VALUES LESS THAN (201138) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p91 VALUES LESS THAN (201139) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p92 VALUES LESS THAN (201140) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p93 VALUES LESS THAN (201141) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p94 VALUES LESS THAN (201142) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p95 VALUES LESS THAN (201143) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p96 VALUES LESS THAN (201144) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p97 VALUES LESS THAN (201145) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p98 VALUES LESS THAN (201146) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p99 VALUES LESS THAN (201147) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p100 VALUES LESS THAN (201148) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p101 VALUES LESS THAN (201149) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p102 VALUES LESS THAN (201150) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p103 VALUES LESS THAN (201151) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p104 VALUES LESS THAN (201152) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p105 VALUES LESS THAN (201201) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p106 VALUES LESS THAN (201202) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p108 VALUES LESS THAN (201204) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p109 VALUES LESS THAN (201205) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p110 VALUES LESS THAN (201206) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p111 VALUES LESS THAN (201207) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p112 VALUES LESS THAN (201208) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p113 VALUES LESS THAN (201209) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p115 VALUES LESS THAN (201211) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p116 VALUES LESS THAN (201212) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p117 VALUES LESS THAN (201213) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p118 VALUES LESS THAN (201214) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p119 VALUES LESS THAN (201215) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p120 VALUES LESS THAN (201216) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p121 VALUES LESS THAN (201217) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p122 VALUES LESS THAN (201218) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p123 VALUES LESS THAN (201219) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p124 VALUES LESS THAN (201220) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p125 VALUES LESS THAN (201221) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p126 VALUES LESS THAN (201222) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p128 VALUES LESS THAN (201224) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p131 VALUES LESS THAN (201227) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p132 VALUES LESS THAN (201228) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p133 VALUES LESS THAN (201229) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p134 VALUES LESS THAN (201230) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p135 VALUES LESS THAN (201231) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p136 VALUES LESS THAN (201232) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p137 VALUES LESS THAN (201233) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p138 VALUES LESS THAN (201234) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p139 VALUES LESS THAN (201235) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p140 VALUES LESS THAN (201236) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p141 VALUES LESS THAN (201237) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p142 VALUES LESS THAN (201238) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p143 VALUES LESS THAN (201239) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p144 VALUES LESS THAN (201240) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p145 VALUES LESS THAN (201241) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p146 VALUES LESS THAN (201242) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p147 VALUES LESS THAN (201243) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p148 VALUES LESS THAN (201244) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p149 VALUES LESS THAN (201245) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p150 VALUES LESS THAN (201246) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p151 VALUES LESS THAN (201247) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p152 VALUES LESS THAN (201248) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p153 VALUES LESS THAN (201249) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p154 VALUES LESS THAN (201250) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p155 VALUES LESS THAN (201251) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p156 VALUES LESS THAN (201252) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p157 VALUES LESS THAN (201301) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p158 VALUES LESS THAN (201302) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p159 VALUES LESS THAN (201303) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p160 VALUES LESS THAN (201304) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p161 VALUES LESS THAN (201305) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p162 VALUES LESS THAN (201306) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p163 VALUES LESS THAN (201307) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p164 VALUES LESS THAN (201308) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p165 VALUES LESS THAN (201309) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p166 VALUES LESS THAN (201310) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p167 VALUES LESS THAN (201311) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p168 VALUES LESS THAN (201312) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p169 VALUES LESS THAN (201313) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p170 VALUES LESS THAN (201314) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p171 VALUES LESS THAN (201315) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p172 VALUES LESS THAN (201316) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p173 VALUES LESS THAN (201317) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p174 VALUES LESS THAN (201318) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p175 VALUES LESS THAN (201319) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p176 VALUES LESS THAN (201320) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p177 VALUES LESS THAN (201321) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p178 VALUES LESS THAN (201322) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p179 VALUES LESS THAN (201323) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p180 VALUES LESS THAN (201324) ENGINE = MyISAM,
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PARTITION p182 VALUES LESS THAN (201326) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p183 VALUES LESS THAN (201327) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p184 VALUES LESS THAN (201328) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p185 VALUES LESS THAN (201329) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p186 VALUES LESS THAN (201330) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p187 VALUES LESS THAN (201331) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p188 VALUES LESS THAN (201332) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p189 VALUES LESS THAN (201333) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p190 VALUES LESS THAN (201334) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p191 VALUES LESS THAN (201335) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p192 VALUES LESS THAN (201336) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p193 VALUES LESS THAN (201337) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p194 VALUES LESS THAN (201338) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p195 VALUES LESS THAN (201339) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION p196 VALUES LESS THAN (201340) ENGINE = MyISAM,
PARTITION pmax VALUES LESS THAN MAXVALUE ENGINE = MyISAM) */

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