Could it all be as simple this: a single delete operation that leverages an output clause to insert deleted rows into a history table? If this were to be scheduled to execute every hour (instead of daily or every five days) then it will roll over a few hundred thousand rows at a time into the history table, and it's all included in a single implicit transaction.

create table PrintJobs

(

JobID int not null identity(1,1) primary key

, PrintDate datetime default getdate()

);

create index ix_PrintDate on PrintJobs ( PrintDate );

create table PrintJobsHistory

(

JobID int not null primary key

, PrintDate datetime

);

delete from PrintJobs

output deleted.JobID, deleted.PrintDate

into PrintJobsHistory ( JobID, PrintDate )

where datediff( day, PrintDate, getdate() ) > 5;