title: Why does my SQL Server logfile have 99% space available after giving me a full warning?
body: <p>While deleting a large number of records, I get this error: </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>The transaction log for database 'databasename' is full</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I found <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13421370/the-transaction-log-for-database-databasename-is-full">this answer</a> very helpful, it recommends: </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <ol>
    <li>Right-click your database in SQL Server Manager, and check the Options page.  </li>
    <li>Switch Recovery Model from Full to Simple </li>
    <li>Right-click the database again. Select Tasks Shrink, Files Shrink the log file to a proper size (I generally stick to 20-25% of the size of the data files) </li>
    <li>Switch back to Full Recovery Model </li>
    <li>Take a full database backup straight away</li>
    </ol>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><strong>Question</strong>: in step 3, when I go to <code>shrink</code> > <code>files</code> and choose <code>log</code> from the <code>file type</code> dropdown menu, it tells me that 99% of the allocated space is free. </p>
  
  <p>Out of ~4500MB of allocated space, there is ~4400MB free (the data file size is ~3000MB).  </p>
  
  <p>Does that mean I'm good to go, and there is no need to shrink?  </p>
  
  <p>I don't understand this. Why would that be the case, given the warning I received initially? </p>