Re: PCTFREE=0 and updates

"Robert Eden" <rmeden_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:0WXs8.77499
> If I only update statically sized columns in a table ( NUMBER, CHAR (not
> VARCHAR)) can I sent PCTFREE to 0 to avoid the (default) 10% waste? (no
> nulls involved)
>
> The Oracle docs aren't clear on the types of operations that change "row
> size".

Thanks to all.. I didn't realize that numbers vary in storage requirements. I'll watch my data and see if it stays in a small range or varies a lot on updates.

I'm not too concerned with additional columns, these are daily raw data tables that get created fresh every day. (deletes within a multi-day table would lead to serious fragmentation... this way I drop a segment at once.) I could use partitioned tables, but since we're writing the application, storing the date in the table name isn't a problem.

I'm currently leaning towards a 0 PCTFREE for my daily raw table (only inserts and update of char(1)) and for my monthly summary table either the default (10%) or reducing it after a study of the number fields. Transaction slots aren't an issue for the raw table, only 2 programs access the raw table, but it's huge ( 2-5 GB each ), so 10% isn't chump change.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Robert Received on Wed Apr 10 2002 - 21:31:48 CDT