I have a database on SQL Server 2000. There are only two logical files in the PRIMARY file group: the data file and the log file. However, when restoring the database to SQL Server 2008 R2, there is now a new logical file named ftrow_Table1Field1 with a file name ftrow_Table1Field1{GUID}.ndf. (I’ve replaced the actual table, field name, and GUID for simplicity.) The path to the .ndf file is MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\FTData\.
I did not create this logical file, nor did I enable full-text search on the database. Field1 was originally a TEXT data type in SQL Server 2000, which I’ve changed via T-SQL to a VARCHAR(MAX) column. This is also not the only column I’ve converted from TEXT to VARCHAR(MAX).
Can anyone shed some light on what is going on here?
EDIT: I did another restore without running my massive T-SQL scripts for the next software release. Direct from the SQL Server 2000 backup, it creates this file. Looking at the Properties of the field in SSMS, it says Full Text is False. The data type is TEXT. This is not the only TEXT field in the database.
Okay. I figured it out. The SQL 2000 database thought there was a full-text index enabled on the field, but it wasn’t really enabled. This carried over to SQL 2008 R2 during the restore, because R2 restored in SQL 2000 compatibility mode and preserved the presumed .NDF. I just removed that file from the file group, and it’s good. Also, R2 will create full-text indexes in the .MDF itself, as opposed to creating an .NDF.