Transact-SQL Reference

sysdevices

Contains one row for each disk backup file, tape backup file, and database file. This table is stored only in the master database.

Important  This system table provides backward compatibility information. In earlier versions of Microsoft® SQL Server™, this table contained a list of all database files. For SQL Server version 7.0, a list of database files is stored in the sysfiles system table of each database.

Column name Data type Description
name sysname Logical name of the backup file or database file.
size int Size of the file in 2 kilobyte (KB) pages.
low int Maintained for backward compatibility only.
high int Maintained for backward compatibility only.
status smallint Bitmap indicating the type of device:

1 = Default disk
2 = Physical disk
4 = Logical disk
8 = Skip header
16 = Backup file
32 = Serial writes
4096 = Read-only

cntrltype smallint Controller type:

0 = Non-CD-ROM database file
2 = Disk backup file
3 - 4 = Diskette backup file
5 = Tape backup file
6 = Named-pipe file

phyname nvarchar(260) Name of the physical file.