Cannot drop a Columnstore Index

Fredrik M 226 Reputation points
2024-10-15T19:27:42.2366667+00:00

I have a clustred Columnstore Index on a big table (5 billion rows), that I want to drop.

So I understand that dropping a clustered columnstore index will convert the columnstore table to a heap.

When I do this, DROP INDEX, I get an error message saying that disk is full.

I am kind of stuck here. Do I really have to extend the disk size to drop it?

SQL Server
SQL Server
A family of Microsoft relational database management and analysis systems for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions.
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Accepted answer
  1. Olaf Helper 45,091 Reputation points
    2024-10-15T19:39:30.76+00:00

    will convert the columnstore table to a heap.

    A column store table is highly compressed and if you want to convert it, you need additional space.

    Do I really have to extend the disk size to drop it?

    So, yes.


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  1. Fredrik M 226 Reputation points
    2024-10-16T09:19:30.12+00:00

    I found the option WITH (DROP_EXISTING = ON), I could try that and see if there is any difference.


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