256kb, should be in SQL, above 1MB, should be in the file system. I think it's a gray area in between.

You might reduce some SQL resources/IO from a large file,...

If you can be sure that it will always mean N/A, you could use it. Alternatively, you could use a code, something like 99989 to mean electric car.

It's how you...

George has good reasons. Shrinking log files is mostly a waste of resources if done regularly. It is really there for fixing specific problems from one-off situations.

I agree with David that TableDiff can work. It's a little work on your side, but not a crazy amount. Red Gate and Apex tools are low cost, are tested,...

I believe that data is moved to other files in the filegroup, round robin style, and then the file is emptied.

It could be N/A, but that implies a specific meaning. Using NULL there as a placeholder works, but you are assigning a value to NULL. I prefer to keep it...

Let us know if you figure it out. Would be a nice piece of info to keep handy.

Sorry, forgot to include a link to help: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic854028-148-1.aspx

You would need to read the XML and split into rows. There is a task in SSIS that can help here. Is this a one time thing or a repeatable...

If you shrink regularly, you're creating fragmentation in your tables. Remove that from your system. If it grows beyond 50MB, determine why. don't just shrink.

You must have your DR version at SQL Server 2008 R2. It is an upgrade from SQL Server 2008. You can have a second instance on your laptop with this...

Is this SQL 2000? I don't believe EXECUTE AS works in 2000.

AFAIK, in 2000 you had to be the owner of the table for truncate.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa260621%28SQL.80%29.aspx

There is a master/target type of relationship for managing jobs in SQL Agent, but I have never liked it.

I have preferred to have each box manage it's own backups, and...

Is there something confusing about this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa258824%28v=SQL.80%29.aspx

AFAIK, back to FoxPro for DOS, it used DBF files for storing data, and .IDX by convention for indexes. I don't know what those are.