SQL Server Express 2008R2 - restore db failing due to size limit, but file is under 10GB I'm trying to restore a live db to a test db, but I keep getting a '..failed because the resulting cumulative db size would exceed...limit of 10240' error, yet my database is under 10GB, I feel like the answer is in the 'cumulative db size' part. 


Being new to SQL Server, I find it confusing that different numbers are reported depending on where you look. I've done multiple purges yet the upper 10,243MB number doesn't seem to change. 
The source .BAK file size in bytes is: 10,622,637,056‬ (9.9GB)
Also, autogrowth set to 50MB - could that allocation be pushing it over the limit? Since the source is the live db, I'm hesitant to monkey with the autogrowth limit. Suggestions appreciated!
The database size limit is for the total size of all database files, both data file(s) and log file(s). So you've got a 7GB problem, not a 0.1GB problem.

You could try to shrink the log file down to near-zero, but even then it is going to be very close (it also may expand as soon as you try to query the database).