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Asked: 2026-06-04T02:00:20+00:00

I have read only access to some SQL Sever 2008 R2 database and I

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I have read only access to some SQL Sever 2008 R2 database and I need to copy data from some of its tables to the tables in my database; both databases have the same collation.

The source database uses a lot of columns of text datatype. Can I safely make the target columns in my database of type varchar(MAX) and copy data without any risk (I am using INSERT statements to copy data)?

In other words, can I safely copy string data from column of text type to the column of varchar(MAX)? Both columns use the same collation.

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  1. Editorial Team

    Yes, definitely – VARCHAR(MAX) is the type you should be using anyway. The underlying implementation of both types is essentially the same (on large enough data, or after a type change from text to VARCHAR(MAX)), if you worry about that.

    You can even “convert” an existing column of type TEXT to VARCHAR(MAX) by means of:

    ALTER TABLE dbo.YourTableHere
ALTER COLUMN YourTextColumnHere VARCHAR(MAX)

    This will turn your TEXT column into a VARCHAR(MAX) column without any data loss.

    Try it! (on a copy of your existing database first, of course)

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