Tuesday, June 17, 2014

What are the advantages of a SQL Server database with multiple files located on one physical drive ?

This is a common question I always get from my classes/workshops. Do we really get some benefits out of a database with multiple data files on one physical drive? Obviously, no performance benefits, but in certain situation, it gives you some benefits;

  1. Taking partial backups, file backups, file group backups
    Although the files have not been distributed on multiple physical drives, still partial backups, files backups and file-groups backups are possible. Assume that your database is very large and some tables are infrequently updated, then you can separate tables into two file groups, using multiple data files, one group for tables that are frequently updated and other for tables that are infrequently updated (or read-only tables). This allows you to have a time-saving and efficient backup strategy, setting different backup plans on two file groups.
  2. Restoration into smaller multiple physical drives
    Assume that you maintain a database with single 100GB size data file. What if the exiting drive crashes and you get two 50GB physical drives for restoring the database from one of the backups? As you know, it is not possible, but, if the database is maintained with multiple data files even with a single physical drive, scenario like this can be easily addressed.
  3. Moving files into another drive
    For various reasons, either the entire database or part of the database is required to be moved to a different physical drives. Some of the reasons could be, moving from test environment to production environment, moving some file-groups to optimized physical drives, moving entire database to a different location. If the database is constructed with multiple files, moving files for above scenario can be easily done with less effort.

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