• Tej_7342 (11/5/2013)


    There are 2.2 billion records in the table and we want to only keep 2 weeks data, as of now we are lagging behind so we want to delete data in smaller chunks first so that the logs don't get messed up.

    Given that I might suggest a different approach entirely. Instead of trying to delete 2.18 billion rows out of 2.2 billion it is probably easier to insert the rows you want to keep into a new table. Then drop the current table and rename the new table.

    Something like this:

    select *

    into MyCopy

    from MyCurrentData

    where SomeDate > DATEADD(week, -2, getdate())

    drop table MyCurrentData

    exec sp_rename 'MyCopy', 'MyCurrentData'

    Make sure you script all the indexes/constraints prior to this because the select into will NOT bring over any indexes or constraints.

    As with anything, make sure you try this on a test system first. 😛

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