Move tempdb files

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The move is done with a script. To generate that script, you can use this small query:

DECLARE @newFolder NVARCHAR(MAX) = 'D:\Data'

SELECT
 CONCAT('ALTER DATABASE tempdb MODIFY FILE (NAME = [' + f.name + '],',
 ' FILENAME = ''', @newFolder , '\',
 reverse(left(reverse(physical_name), charindex('\', reverse(physical_name)) -1)),
 ''');') as [ddl]
FROM sys.master_files f
WHERE f.database_id = DB_ID(N'tempdb');

This code is also on my GitHub.

Copy the generated code and run it in an SSMS window.

You will see a message like this one for each file moved:

Remove tempdb files

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft’s recommendation for optimizing tempdb is to create several files, so as to parallelise the I/O threads and reduce contention on the allocation pages inside the files.

The baseline recommendation is to create as many files as the system has CPUs. That recommendation should not be followed to the letter. On a system with 32 cores you are not going to create 32 files: it brings nothing, and it makes managing space in tempdb harder.

Managing the system databases on Rudi Bruchez

Move tempdb files

Remove tempdb files