In the November and December 1997 issues, we published a two-part series called "A Brief History of Time and Freespace," in which Paul Munkenbeck described how SQL Server 6.x managed database space allocation and provided readers with Paul's utility for monitoring freespace in those versions. Since then, SQL Server has benefited from a completely new database architecture, and Paul felt it was time to review his procedures for SQL Server versions 7 and 2000. Again, this is the first installment of a two-part series.