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Oct 27, 2022 · Databases

How to Safely Delete Hundreds of Millions of Rows Without Locking Your Database

This guide explains why a single massive DELETE on a 500‑million‑row table creates long‑running transactions and locks, and shows step‑by‑step techniques—date‑range batching, primary‑key range slicing, and insert‑instead‑of‑delete—to break the operation into manageable chunks and improve performance.