It's a bit unclear from your original post, but which columns are you adding the primary key on?

Can you post some sample data for each table and the results you are expecting to get?

First, you'll need to be able to define the rules surrounding the split.  One can look at your string and your output table and guess, but it sure helps, especially...

It may also help to look and see if there is a DELETE trigger on the table you are deleting from or an INSERT trigger on the insert table.

This is normal behavior as the trigger is part of the UPDATE transaction to that row.  SQL Server holds the locks that were placed on the row for the UPDATE...

I would not consider partitioning a tuning technique.  What did the article say about partitioning that you have questions on.

Read up on Locking Hints in BOL.  Yes, you can help with performance by using locking hints to tell SQL Server to use a specific type of lock.  Using locking...

I didn't think Aaron was being negative.  It sounds like a perceptive observation to me.  Look up EXEC in BOL.  You need to build your ALTER TABLE statement into a...

You mentioned that you noticed  a bit of the self-blocking during production hours.  How did you identify the self-blocking to begin with?  Was your production system experiencing slowness that you...

Yes, I second what Vladan posted.  Read through BOL on not only that topic but on transactions in general and post any questions you come accross.  The default behavior for...

You've either specified a BEGIN TRANSACTION without doing a COMMIT/ROLLBACK, or you have SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS set to ON.

Can you specify an article that states this?  What is the articles position on this?  I would say that it depends on what you are attempting to aggregate and whether...

Self blocks are usually due to long I/O wait times.  You've obviously been able to capture the self blocking.  Run sp_lock the next time you see the self blocking and...

Just add a 'SELECT * FROM #TempTable' where you need to view the data.  There is no need to use the PRINT statement to view the data.

As far as #1 goes, when performance tuning a query, logical and physical reads can be viewed by using SET STATISTICS IO ON.  Physical reads represent how many pages SQL Server...