The problem is not with the number of rows, but with the sort order. If You try to submit a query select top 100 percent .... from ... order by ... then it is likely that the result WILL NOT be sorted int the order You required. The trick "top 100 percent ....... order by ...." works in SQL Server 2000 but it does not work anymore in the SQL Server 2005 (at least not with more sophisticated queries). There are a few articles written on this subject. The essence of the problem is that in SQL Server 2005 query optimizer ignores "order by" when it encounters "top 100 percent" in the select clause.

So this trick is not only supposed to get all rows, but to get them all in the specified order.