why does dropping a clustered index take so long?

  • Seriously... It's not like I'm building a clustered index.  Just leave the data in the order it's in and forget about it. 

    Is it rebuilding all non-clustered indexes on that same table or something?  wtf?

     

    tx, greg

  • Yes, it is rebuilding all non-clustered indexes on the table.  The clustered index key is part of all non-clustered indexes on a table where both exist, so any time you drop or reindex the clustered index, all non-clustered indexes must also be rebuilt. 

    John Rowan

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  • Why is it taking just as long when I drop all the non-clustered indexes first?

    What else is it doing?

     

     

  • A clustered index is part of the physical table.  It must remove the index rows from the table to 'return' it to a heap (table w/o clustered index).

    See books online for a graphic under clustered indexes, architecture

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