Never done anything like this before so I'm just throwing ideas out there.

- BCP IN

- Linked server to text file

- Make a small app (vba, vbs) that inserts line by...

Never seen that before.  Sorry if I can't be of more help at the moment.

Best way I know to get performance out of this (assuming that the scans are unacceptable for you), is to create 2 different queries, optimize them separatly, then run them...

1) Make sure that system catalogs updates are off?

2) Is she creating the tables as dbo.tblname or only create table tblname ...?

I'd make sure she uses the dbo keyword.

Other than that,...

Thanks for the reply... I knew I had seen this somewhere a while back, now I can sleep better .

Am I dreaming this, or did visa cards have some cards with 12 numbers on it at some time in the last 10-15 years?

Thanks for the tip, this may avoid some small gotchas that can make you go mad.  The object is a very nice touch on this one.

Can you take the time to describe the procedure you used and the scripts required to do this?  This will surely help someone else in the future who has the...

This should get you started :

SELECT I.Name AS IndexName, OBJECT_NAME(id) AS TableName, INDEXPROPERTY(I.id, I.Name, 'IsClustered') AS IndexIsClustered, FG.GroupName from dbo.sysfilegroups FG INNER JOIN dbo.SysIndexes I ON I.GroupID = FG.GroupID...

Exactly, assuming that the clustered index is different from the PK or the said unique constraint.

The data will remain where the clustered index is.  Just make sure you don't move this index.

You mean that the full backup file is smaller than the previous day from time to time?

One likely cause is that you have less data than the previous day or...

As I said earlier, I have never worked in such an environement, such I was asking lots of questions to be ready for when it happens.  I got good instincts...

What I do when that happens is that I cut the line then repaste it in place (quick ctrl-X, ctrl-v).  This works everytime, but I must admit it's very annoying.

Anoter...

I was just doing my Devil's advocate here.  My instinct was varchar + encryption, looks like I was pretty much dead on!