SQL Server DELETE is slower with indexes

Question

I have an SQL Server 2005 database, and I tried putting indexes on the appropriate fields in order to speed up the DELETE of records from a table with millions

Answer 1

I Agree with Bobs comment above - if you are deleting large volumes of data from large tables deleting the indices can take a while on top of deleting the data its the cost of doing business though. As it deletes all the data out you are causing reindexing events to happen.

With regards to the logfile growth; if you arent doing anything with your logfiles you could switch to Simple logging; but i urge you to read up on the impact that might have on your IT department before you change.

If you need to do the delete in real time; its often a good work around to flag the data as inactive either directly on the table or in another table and exclude that data from queries; then come back later and delete the data when the users aren't staring at an hourglass. There is a second reason for covering this; if you are deleting lots of data out of the table (which is what i am supposing based on your logfile issue) then you will likely want to do an indexdefrag to reorgnaise the index; doing that out of hours is the way to go if you dont like users on the phone !