sql server - What is the fastest way to clear a SQL table? -

i have table 300,000 rows , 30 columns. how can clear out? if drop mytable query, takes long time run. i'm trying following stored procedure make copy of table no data, drop original table, , rename new table original:

use [mydatabase] go set ansi_nulls_on go set quoted_identifier on go alter procedure [dbo].[clearthetable] begin     set nocount on;     select * tempmytable mytable 1 = 0;     drop table mytable     exec sp_rename tempmytable, mytable; end 

this took 7 minutes run. there faster way it? don't need logging, rollback or of nature.

if matters, i'm calling stored procedure c# app. guess write code recreate table scratch after doing drop table, didn't want have recompile app time column added or changed.

thanks!

edit

here's updated stored procedure:

use [mydatabase] go set ansi_nulls_on go set quoted_identifier on go alter procedure [dbo].[clearthetable] begin     set nocount on;     alter database mydatabase     set restricted_user rollback immediate     truncate table mytable     alter database mydatabase     set multi_user end 

best way clear table truncate.

since creating , droping ill assume have no constraints.

truncate table <target table> 

some advantages:

• less transaction log space used.

the delete statement removes rows 1 @ time , records entry in transaction log each deleted row. truncate table removes data deallocating data pages used store table data , records page deallocations in transaction log.

• fewer locks typically used.

when delete statement executed using row lock, each row in table locked deletion. truncate table locks table (including schema (sch-m) lock) , page not each row.

• without exception, 0 pages left in table.

after delete statement executed, table can still contain empty pages. example, empty pages in heap cannot deallocated without @ least exclusive (lck_m_x) table lock. if delete operation not use table lock, table (heap) contain many empty pages. indexes, delete operation can leave empty pages behind, although these pages deallocated background cleanup process.