Field Types of SQL Server 2005

Table. Field Types and Appropriate Uses

Field Type	Description	Storage
Bigint	New to SQL Server 2000. Can hold numbers ranging from 263 to 263.	8 bytes.
Binary	Holds from 1 to 8,000 bytes of fixed-length binary data.	Whatever is in the column, plus 4 additional bytes.
Bit	Can hold a value of either 1 or 0. Nulls not allowed.	8-bit fields take up 1 byte of data.
Char	Holds from 1 to 8,000 bytes of fixed-length non-Unicode characters.	The number of bytes corresponds to the length of the field (regardless of what is stored in it).
DateTime	Holds valid dates from January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999.	4 bytes.
Decimal	Used for numbers with fixed precision and scale. When maximum precision is used, values can range from 1038 1 to 1038 1. Scale must be less than or equal to the precision.	Depends on the precision.
Float	Can hold positive and negative numbers from 1.79E + 308 to 1.79E + 308. It offers binary precision up to 15 digits.	8 bytes.
Image	Consists of linked data pages of binary data. It can contain up to 2,147,483,647 bytes of binary data.	Depends on what is stored in it.
Int	Can store whole numbers from, 2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.	4 bytes.
Money	Can store decimal data ranging from 263 to 263, scaled to four digits of precision. It offers accuracy to 1/10,000 of a monetary unit.	8 bytes.
NChar	Can contain from 1 to 4,000 Unicode characters.	Twice the amount of bytes of Char. Corresponds to the length of the field (regardless of what is stored in it).
NText	Can hold data up to 1,073,741,823 Unicode characters.	Each character takes 2 bytes of storage.
Numeric	Used for numbers with fixed precision and scale. When maximum precision Values can range from 1038 to 1 to 1038 +1.	Depends on the precision.
NVarChar	Can contain from 1 to 4,000 Unicode characters.	2 bytes per character stored.
NVarChar(MAX)
Real	A smaller version of float. Contains a single-precision floating-point number from 3.40E + 38 to 3.40E + 38.	4 bytes.
SmallDateTime	Consists of two 2-byte integers. Can store dates only between 1/1/1900 and 6/6/2079.	4 bytes.
SmallInt	A smaller version of int. Can store values between 32,768 and 32,767.	2 bytes.
SmallMoney
	A smaller version of money. Can store decimal data scaled to four digits of precision. Can store values from 214,748.3648 to +214,748.3647.	4 bytes.
SQL_Variant	New to SQL 2000. Can store int, binary, and char values. Is a very inefficient data type.	Varies.
Text	Stores up to 2,147,483,647 characters of non-Unicode data.	1 byte for each character of storage.
TimeStamp	Generates a unique binary value that SQL Server automatically creates when a row is inserted and that SQL Server updates every time that the row is edited.	8 bytes.
TinyInt	Stores whole numbers from 0 to 255.	1 byte.
UniqueIdentifier	A globally unique identifier (GUID) that is automatically generated when the NEWID() function is used.	16 bytes.
VarBinary	Can hold variable-length binary data from 1 to 8000 bytes.	Varies from 1 to 8000 bytes.
VarBinary(MAX)
VarChar	A variable-length string that can hold 1 to 8,000 non-Unicode characters.	1 byte per character stored.
VarChar(MAX)
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