"a varchar is a char that was left on the grill for too long"

I love it!

The easiest way to see other windows processes use of I/O is to use Task Manager, under the View menu choose Select Columns and check the I/O Reads, I/O Writes,...

Are you running a SAN?  Maybe another server is using the disk capacity.  Or it might be a windows process rather than a SQL process?

Yeah, I suppose your're right.  I don't recall a DBA position with "junior" in the title anywhere.

You've been told wrong.  The size of the data files is not nearly as important as how often they are accessed, and how.  SAN's are not magic, I/O performance generally...

Some applications (those written by really dumb programmers) can't deal with named instances.

It doesn't ask you to point it at a SQL Server?  So, it HAS to be installed on...

You can start by running sp_who2.  This gives you an idea about which process is using disk time.  If one really sticks out and you need more detail you can...

If you can see the service running and can connect to the instance via Query Analyzer, the odds are that the instance was created without error (whether it is configured...

Doesn't every DBA start as a junior DBA?  I see DBA's as being a senior level IT postition though, so a senior developer or admin might become a junior DBA. ...

You don't have to use the return code although you can.  SQL Server will return any error or information messages to the client without explicitly defining the return code like...

I have been guilty of reading questions too quickly before, but I don't think this is one of those times...

If that really was the question, then there should be no...

This is really a programming question.  SQL Server is returning the error, but somewhere along the way it is being ignored by the application.

See this discussion

One more thing to think about is can containers contain containers? 

Another thing that I didn't mention in that discussion was the possiblity of a relationship existing...

Under most circumstances selecting the 5 colums will be marginally more efficient than selecting all 10.  Under some circumstances the benefit is large.  I can't think of a single circumstance...

What is the command?  If you can't provide a bit more detail than that, it's a pretty slim chance that anyone can help...