Copy table to a different database on a different SQL Server

Question

I would like to copy a table from one database to another. I know you can easily do the following if the databases are on the same SQL Server.

SELECT * INTO NewTable FROM existingdb.dbo.existingtable; 

Is there any easy way to do this if the databases are on two different SQL Servers, without having to loop through every record in the original table and insert it into the new table?

Also, this needs to be done in code, outside of SQL Server Management Studio.

Answer 1

Yes. add a linked server entry, and use select into using the four part db object naming convention.

Example:

SELECT * INTO targetTable  FROM [sourceserver].[sourcedatabase].[dbo].[sourceTable] 

Answer 2

If it’s only copying tables then linked servers will work fine or creating scripts but if secondary table already contains some data then I’d suggest using some third party comparison tool.

I’m using Apex Diff but there are also a lot of other tools out there such as those from Red Gate or Dev Art...

Third party tools are not necessary of course and you can do everything natively it’s just more convenient. Even if you’re on a tight budget you can use these in trial mode to get things done….

Here is a good thread on similar topic with a lot more examples on how to do this in pure sql.