Microsoft® SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Adding and Dropping Table Partitions

One of the most useful features of partitioned tables is that you can add and drop entire partitions of table data in bulk. If the table partitions are set up properly, these commands can take place in seconds, without the expensive input/output (I/O) costs of physically copying or moving the data. You can add and drop table partitions by using the SPLIT RANGE and MERGE RANGE options of the ALTER PARTITION FUNCTION command:

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ALTER PARTITION FUNCTION partition_function_name(){ SPLIT RANGE ( boundary_value ) | MERGE RANGE ( boundary_value ) }

Adding a Table Partition

The SPLIT RANGE option adds a new boundary point to an existing partition function and affects all objects that use ...