# Test Database Empty after "rake test"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 7, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/test-database-empty-after-rake-test/192872 "2010-08-07T14:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/test-database-empty-after-rake-test/192872/1 "2010-08-07T14:13:18Z")
Hey, can somebody tell me why my test database is always empty after I run “rake test” but not after I test single test files? My rake db:seed for the test database takes like 6 minutes and I don’t really wanna reseed it every time I run “rake test”. Is it possible to not let “rake test” truncate my database? ---
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/test-database-empty-after-rake-test/192872/2 "2010-08-07T19:06:16Z")
I googled and went through the test files. There’s no hint or anything… no one? ---
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/test-database-empty-after-rake-test/192872/3 "2010-08-09T16:27:25Z")
Heinz S. wrote: > Hey, > > can somebody tell me why my test database is always empty after I run > “rake test” but not after I test single test files? My rake db:seed for > the test database takes like 6 minutes and I don’t really wanna reseed > it every time I run “rake test”. Is it possible to not let “rake test” > truncate my database? This question comes up on the list from time to time. I’ll give the same answer I always give: that’s a really, really bad (and dangerous) idea. The point is that each test starts from a known state. You shouldn’t need your whole seed data to run your tests – just use factories to create what you need for each test. ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@cojones](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cojones)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/test-database-empty-after-rake-test/192872/4 "2010-08-12T11:41:13Z")
Yeah, you’re right. Might switch to Factories instead. Don’t really need 500 NPC when I can test all the stuff having 5-10 🙂