Question

I am trying to migrate a table from a remote server into my local database. However, I do not want to create an intermediate csv or tab-delimited file because of the content of the columns inside this table. Some columns are huge and I don’t really want to remember all the data types. I was wondering if there is an intermediate format that I can just dump the table into and then re-import it back into my local database.

I was suggested to use Business Intelligence Development Studio for this purpose but am clueless on how to actually use this tool. Maybe I am using the wrong set of keywords but Google is of no help either.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

(i am assuming that you are running SQL Server 2005+)
If you have access to both SQL Servers, simply use the Data Import / Export wizard.

1. Open Management Studio and connect to source database server.
2. Right click the source database and click Export Data.
3. Follow the wizard. It will ask to target database and table. You can create a new database / table at the target system with this wizard.

You can also use SQL Script Generator, a free & great tool which allows you to script both database, table with it’s data. See http://sqlscriptgenerator.com/ for more information about the tool.

And yes, you don’t need Business Intelligence Development Studio.