MySQL database file size has been drastically reduced

Hi all,

Been a happy WordPresser for a few years now. Like anybody should, I’ve backed up my database periodically, both before updates and as a precautionary measure. Over time, I’ve seen the database file size gradually grow. Before today, it weighed in at over 50mb without zip/tar compression.

I did a backup today, and the downloaded file is less than 8mb! That is about one-seventh the size it was a few weeks ago.

What gives?

I’m naturally concerned that I haven’t properly backed the thing up, no matter what Firefox tells me.

I suspect/hope that the upgrade to 2.6.2 may have cleaned up the database structure(?), resulting in smaller file sizes. But what I don’t know still spooks me.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

=jaced