Store images in varbinary(max), read file bytes with OPENROWSET, inspect LOB allocation, and evaluate backup and retrieval costs.
Storing Hash Values: binary(32) or a 64-Character Hex String
A hex string is just a printed hash, and it costs twice the space. Here is the round trip, the index sizes and the traps.
SQL SERVER – FIX : Error 3154: The backup set holds a backup of a database other than the existing database – SSMS
Error 3154 says the backup set holds a backup of a different database. Here is how to fix it in SSMS, plus the T-SQL RESTORE WITH REPLACE option.
SELECT * Cost: Why Wide Result Sets Slow Exports
The query starts fast but the export crawls. A small demo shows how much a wide text column adds, and what to measure on your own server.
Measuring Space Used by Tables per Filegroup in T-SQL
Measure tables per filegroup from allocation metadata, include LOB and overflow pages, and separate partition placement from growth history.
Data Lake vs Data Warehouse: What Each One Is For
Data Lake vs Data Warehouse is a choice between raw files and cleaned, modeled tables. This post compares schema on read with schema on write, who uses each, and why many teams combine them in a lakehouse.
Read-Only Filegroups: Locking Away Old Data
Read-only filegroups let you lock old data so nothing can change it by accident. This post moves old rows to their own filegroup, makes it read-only, shows what still works and what fails, and explains how partial backups skip the locked data.