diff --git a/installation_and_upgrade/part_truncate_archive.bat b/installation_and_upgrade/part_truncate_archive.bat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b1e8759c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/installation_and_upgrade/part_truncate_archive.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+@echo off
+setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
+set "SOURCE=\\isis.cclrc.ac.uk\inst$\Kits$\CompGroup\ICP\Releases"
+call "%~dp0install_or_update_uv.bat"
+call "%~dp0set_up_venv.bat"
+IF %errorlevel% neq 0 goto ERROR
+
+git --version
+
+IF %errorlevel% neq 0 (
+    echo No installation of Git found on machine. Please download Git from https://git-scm.com/downloads before proceeding.
+    goto ERROR
+)
+
+REM Matches current MySQL version
+uv pip install mysql-connector-python==8.4.0
+
+python -u part_truncate_archive.py %*
+IF %errorlevel% neq 0 goto ERROR
+call rmdir /s /q %UV_TEMP_VENV%
+
+exit /b 0
+
+:ERROR
+set errcode = %ERRORLEVEL%
+call rmdir /s /q %UV_TEMP_VENV%
+EXIT /b !errcode!
diff --git a/installation_and_upgrade/part_truncate_archive.py b/installation_and_upgrade/part_truncate_archive.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..be497a25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/installation_and_upgrade/part_truncate_archive.py
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+import argparse
+import time
+from contextlib import closing
+
+import mysql.connector
+
+"""
+This script will delete rows from the mysql archive `sample` table
+that are more than `history` days old in batches of `limit` to improve performance.
+
+This could be done after a database backup and be used instead of truncating
+the entire database. It will not reduce the size of the database file on disk, but the
+deleted rows will be re-used by the database and so the file should not grow.
+
+A typical usage would be if the instrument already has information in mysql it would like
+to keep a bit longer, or is running. The backup is safe to do on a running as it uses
+`single transaction` mode, but if the backup takes 2 hours you'll have two hours of missed
+data after a truncate. Hence this script to leave some old data in mysql.  
+"""
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Set query options")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--host", dest="host", action="store", help="Host (default: localhost)", default="127.0.0.1"
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--limit",
+        dest="limit",
+        action="store",
+        type=int,
+        help="Rows to delete each query (default: 1000)",
+        default=1000,
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--sleep",
+        dest="sleep",
+        action="store",
+        type=float,
+        help="Seconds to sleep between queries (default: 0.5)",
+        default=0.5,
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--history",
+        dest="history",
+        action="store",
+        type=int,
+        help="How many days to keep (default: 7)",
+        default=7,
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--password", dest="password", action="store", help="mysql root password", default=""
+    )
+    parser.add_argument("--dry-run", dest="dry_run", action="store_true", help="dry run")
+
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    # ignore pyright checking as oracle bug in type signature of close() method
+    with closing(
+        mysql.connector.connect(
+            user="root", password=args.password, host=args.host, database="archive"
+        )  # pyright: ignore
+    ) as conn:
+        # this is so we don't cache query results and keep getting the same answer
+        conn.autocommit = True
+
+        with closing(conn.cursor(prepared=True)) as c:
+            c.execute("SET SQL_LOG_BIN=0")  # disable any binary logging for this session
+            print(f"Looking for sample_id corresponding to {args.history} days ago")
+            c.execute(
+                "SELECT MAX(sample_id) FROM sample WHERE smpl_time < TIMESTAMPADD(DAY, -?, NOW())",
+                (args.history,),
+            )
+            sample_id = c.fetchone()[0]
+            c.execute(
+                "SELECT COUNT(sample_id) FROM sample "
+                "WHERE smpl_time < TIMESTAMPADD(DAY, -?, NOW())",
+                (args.history,),
+            )
+            count_sample_id = c.fetchone()[0]
+            print(
+                f"ID of last row to delete is {sample_id} and there are {count_sample_id} rows "
+                f"-> {int(1 + count_sample_id / args.limit)} delete operations"
+            )
+            print(
+                f"This will take at least {args.sleep * count_sample_id / args.limit:.1f} "
+                "seconds based on sleep time alone"
+            )
+            if args.dry_run:
+                print("Exiting as dry-run")
+                return
+            rowcount = 1
+            it = 0
+            while rowcount > 0:
+                c.execute(f"DELETE FROM sample WHERE sample_id < {sample_id} LIMIT {args.limit}")
+                rowcount = c.rowcount
+                print(f"{it % 10}", end="", flush=True)
+                it += 1
+                time.sleep(args.sleep)
+            print("")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/installation_and_upgrade/requirements.txt b/installation_and_upgrade/requirements.txt
index f6904baf..07a5525a 100644
--- a/installation_and_upgrade/requirements.txt
+++ b/installation_and_upgrade/requirements.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ pyepics
 epicscorelibs
 certifi  # Needed in order for requests to find https certificates
 requests
+mysql-connector-python==8.4.0