How do I find the data directory for a SQL Server instance?

Question

We have a few huge databases (20GB+) which mostly contain static lookup data. Because our application executes joins against tables in these databases, they have t

Answer 1

Various components of SQL Server (Data, Logs, SSAS, SSIS, etc) have a default directory. The setting for this can be found in the registry. Read more here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143547%28SQL.90%29.aspx

So if you created a database using just CREATE DATABASE MyDatabaseName it would be created at the path specified in one of the settings above.

Now, if the admin / installer changed the default path, then the default path for the instance is stored in the registry at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\[INSTANCENAME]\Setup

If you know the name of the instance then you can query the registry. This example is SQL 2008 specific - let me know if you need the SQL2005 path as well.

DECLARE @regvalue varchar(100)

EXEC master.dbo.xp_regread @rootkey='HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
        @key='SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLServer\Setup',
        @value_name='SQLDataRoot',
        @value=@regvalue OUTPUT,
        @output = 'no_output'

SELECT @regvalue as DataAndLogFilePath

Each database can be created overriding the server setting in a it's own location when you issue the CREATE DATABASE DBName statement with the appropriate parameters. You can find that out by executing sp_helpdb

exec sp_helpdb 'DBName'