SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 036

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SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 036

Data Storage?

Credit for this one goes to Chris Avis, who had this asked of him in an event recently…

“With ‘instant file initialization’, what is it really doing?”

Here’s a document that describes it well.

From the document:

In SQL Server 2005, data files can be initialized instantaneously. This allows for fast execution of the previously mentioned file operations. Instant file initialization reclaims used disk space without filling that space with zeros. Instead, disk content is overwritten as new data is written to the files. Log files cannot be initialized instantaneously.

Interestingly – Instant File Initialization requires that the SQL Server 2005 be running on either Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.

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