[dba-SQLServer] DB growth spurt/Comparison tool

[J- P]

Hi all,
Warning , this is a longer  than usual , bit elaborate thread.

Environment;

sql express 2005 database (2000 compatibility mode) on 2003 server;
 Access  front end;
~40 users;
DB size 1.6 GB 

Scenario;
Front end starts hanging on certain menus (spinning wheel of death the users call it)
Sometimes it comes back on its own , sometimes they restart the sql service
(with my limited knowledge i ran profiler and have found every time it freezes/crashes the trace shows "sort warnings with event subclass 1 pass) I know add more memory is the band-aid , however , express is limited to 1GB and I believe it's a problem pertaining to queries )

Now I have been telling the owner for years he needs to to get current,  get a real DBA and clean things up (another story completely )

Today the "DBM (database maintainer I call him, because he is by NO MEANS a DBA) did something trying to "fix the issue"
and the database became pretty much unusable- sort warning up the  wazoo.

I looked at the backups and the database went from 1.6GB to 1.8GB from one hour to the next today.

I have taken the DB and restored it to to a 2008r2 Standard DB w 8GB ram , just so they can work come Monday.

What I would really like to know is what changed from one hour to the next inside the database to make it grow by 200 MB in an hour, and if there is a tool /utility that can compare the before and after DB files.

thanks