After you back up an AI file, you must mark the file as empty so that the database engine can reuse the file. To mark a file as empty, use the AIMAGE EXTENT EMPTY qualifier of the RFUTIL utility. After you mark the file as empty, the database engine overwrites the contents of the file.

Use the following command to mark the AI file as empty:

rfutil db-name -C aimage extent empty [extent-number | extent-path]

If you do not specify an extent-number or extent-path, RFUTIL automatically marks the oldest full extent as empty.

Note: Use the RFUTIL AIMAGE EXTENT LIST or RFUTIL AIMAGE EXTENT FULL utility to determine the extent-number or extent-path.