Bulk data Import and Export

SQL Server supports exporting data in bulk (bulk data) from a SQL Server table and importing bulk data into a SQL Server table or non-partitioned view. Bulk importing and bulk exporting are essential to efficient transfer data between SQL Server and heterogeneous data sources. Bulk exporting refers to copying data from a SQL Server table to a data file. Bulk importing refers to loading data from a data file into a SQL Server table. For example, you can export data from a Microsoft Excel application to a data file and then bulk import that data into a SQL Server table.

Method	Description	Imports data	Exports data
bcp utility	A command-line utility (Bcp.exe) that bulk exports and bulk imports data and generates format files.	Yes	Yes
BULK INSERT statement	A Transact-SQL statement that imports data directly from a data file into a database table or nonpartitioned view.	Yes	No
INSERT ... SELECT * FROM OPENROWSET(BULK...) statement	A Transact-SQL statement that uses the OPENROWSET bulk rowset provider to bulk import data into a SQL Server table by specifying the OPENROWSET(BULK…) function to select data in an INSERT statement.	Yes	No