Comments on: SQL SERVER – 2005 Row Overflow Data Explanation

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Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:09:24 +0000

[...] SQL SERVER – 2005 Row Overflow Data Explanation [...]

By: suneeeee

suneeeee — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:08:17 +0000

i had a problem to store more than 8000 characters in msssql 2005. i had used varchar(max), text and all possible datatypes but could not find the solution. can u please give me solution???

By: Nsiku Banda

Nsiku Banda — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:33:11 +0000

Just shows how cheeky Microsoft is to want to come up with different versions of SQL. I do not see why the row field limitations to 8060 bytes in SQL Server 2000 had to wait for the release of the 2005 version??

It would be nice to “truncate” microsoft from our lives forever, but I am not quite sure how!

By: Michael Lake

Michael Lake — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:59:28 +0000

because Varchar has a maximum size a 1kb,
thus 255 characters. each character is 2 bytes,
plus 2 bytes as a header.

and a text type is an array of varchars,
so think of each line sa a varchar, and there are many lines.

keep in mind that the maximum row size is 8kb.
there is method of calculating field sizes, google it for more info.

I hope this helps

By: rpd

rpd — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:56:57 +0000

I have a table in SQL Server 2000 with two text fields. I’d like to change the two text fields to varchar(8000), but I get this error:

- Unable to modify table.
ODBC error: [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Cannot create a row of size 14844 which is greater than the allowable maximum of 8060.

I’m not concerned about data truncation; that’s fine for my situation. I don’t understand, though, how a table can allow two text fields but not two varchar fields. Do you know if there is a way around this?

Thanks in advance! This site is a really great resource.