there really is no practical limit for datafile sizes. The argrument of no more than 2Gb is crass at best. however you dont mention version but recovery is a consideration - do you want to recover a 4gb file or a 20 gb file? (this if you arent doing a full database restore). So up to you what you want keep it is, if you want to increase a file to stop the db from being bounced - i say go for it. I have used 17Gb datafiles before quite happily with no troubles On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 17:01:37 -0500, Daniel Garant <dgarant@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi > > Last week, while creating a new datafile for an expanding tablespace I > received the ORA-00059 (max number of db_file exceeded). The DB is used > in a 24/24 env. So I can't easily plan a bounce to change my db_files > parameter from 151 to 250 for example. > > Now, I'm wondering if the actual datafile size set by the previous DBA > on this DB, which is 4 Gb, is ok or if I could start increasing this > size to 8Gb for example. I normally set my datafile size to be a > portion of the disk size so that I can easily move datafiles around if > needed. But here, the disks are stripped on a big 900 Gb array. So the > need to keep the datafile size down is not really relevant anymore. > > This DB is approx. 600 Gb and growing of approx. 1 Gb every 2 weeks. > > Here are my questions: > > - What would be the best max size for my datafiles? > > - What sizes are you guys using? > > - What should I take into consideration when deciding this? > > Thx in advance > > Daniel > > -- > //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l > -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l