Hi Vishwa,Blocksize in teradata is defined in terms of sectors in dbs control parameter.I think it is Permdballocation ( just refer to the dbs control portion in the doc). for example if u see the above relevant parameter defines as 256 sectors the 256*512bytes= bytes and divide that by 1024 will give u the block size. This is system wide.Also in teradata u can over rule this system wide block size value by allocating it at the time of creating a table. So u can create mutiple tables with diff blocksizes...regardsTERADATA_DBA

I am a newbie in Teradata.Does it make any difference in initial size if a table is just created with one column VS multiple columns and does not contain any data?Thanks

No, there is no difference, as Teradata doesn't pre-allocate any data blocks for table, it acquires data blocks for tables when, it actually needs to insert data into table. I couldn’t remember exactly, but I think, it is slightly different from Oracle, where we can assign some initial blocks (or INITIAL or Segment) at the time of table creation.

Thanks for your valueable answer.Does TRUNCATE or similar command in Teradata has the same effect?What I mean is if given the 3 scenarios1. I create a table fresh with one columnOR2. I create a table fresh with several columnsOR3. I reset the highwater mark of a table by issuing a truncate or a similar command on a table which was previously filled with dataQ : Does the size of table would remain same in 3rd scenario too? (If I am not wrong you have already answered the scenario 1 & 2).Your answer would be appericated.Thanks

Teradata does not have a TRUNCATE statement or any notion of a "highwater mark", but you may delete a table's entire contents using the DELETE statement without any WHERE condition. The resulting disk space usage would be the same as in the case of a freshly created empty table.

Thanks for your reply.That's very good to know.