Should I use an inline varchar(max) column or store it in a separate table?

Question

I want to create a table in MS SQL Server 2005 to record details of certain system operations. As you can see from the table design below, every column apart from Deta

Answer 1

You should structure your data into whatever seems the most logical structure and allow SQL Server to perform its optimizations as to how to physically store the data.

If you find, through performance analysis, that your structure is a performance problem, then consider performing changes to your structure or to storage settings.