Thanks, I will give that a try.

Lynn Pettis (2/20/2013)

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Sounds like your database is using BULK_LOGGED or Full Recovery model and you aren't running any transaction log backups. Full backups and Differential backups do not truncate...

I use this to add the same column to a group of tables. You can modify it to remove a column. I choose "Results to text", then copy-paste the results...

Today it is a one-off. But I will be setting up a weekly process for future imports.

I thought I would use the wizard the first time, then save it as...

Garbage In, Garbage Out.

I must apologize for wasting your time & not supplying representative data originally, so your solution worked based on what I posted earlier, but now i realize...

GilaMonster (2/14/2013)

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You have some third party tool backing up the databases as well as the native backups. My guess would be backupexec. The native and the 3rd part backups are...

Find the most recent backup prior to the truncate.

Restore the database temporarily with a different name, such as "ProductionDB_20130115Backup" to identify what it is.

Copy the table from ProductionDB_20130115Backup to...

I think #3 should help. Are the large t-logs always from the same database ?

Or do you mean that the t-log backup job failed, due to a problem with the job or accessing the backup location ?

What do you see in the job history details for step 9 ?

That explains it, thanks

I used to track it by using the backup history, which includes the database size. Since I took daily backups, and did not delete full backup history, it was good...

Sounds like fun ! Do you have lots of stored procedures that need to have their column name references changed ?

Uncommitted replication transactions can also be a problem.

If you want to end up with empty tables, it might be simpler & faster to script your existing database objects, rename your current database, and create them as...