SQL Server 'select * into' versus 'insert into ..select *

Question

Say table1 and table2 already exist, is there any difference between these queries

query1 :-

select * into table1 from tabl         


        

Answer 1

The first one (SELECT INTO) will create and populate a new table the second (INSERT... SELECT) inserts to an existing table.

In versions of SQL Server prior to 2008 the first one could be minimally logged and the second one not but this is no longer true.