Large Objects

Large Object (LOB) support was enhanced significantly in SQL Server 2005. Support for LOBs in earlier versions of SQL Server was limited compared with regular datatypes, and their manipulation was awkward, to say the least. SQL Server 2005 introduces a unified programming model for regular datatypes and LOBs using a new MAX specifier for dynamic-length datatypes. The older LOB datatypes TEXT, NTEXT, and IMAGE are still supported for backward compatibility, but they will enter a deprecation process in a future version. SQL Server 2005 also introduces a new XML datatype (also a LOB) that allows you to store and manipulate XML data natively. Support for loading data from files is also enhanced with the introduction of the new BULK rowset ...

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