Introduction
These data types – TEXT, NTEXT, and IMAGE – have been part of SQL Server since its earliest versions, designed to store large objects like documents, HTML, and binary data when there was no better alternative. However, starting from SQL Server 2005, Microsoft officially deprecated them in favour of the more versatile VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX), and VARBINARY(MAX) types. Despite this clear shift almost two decades ago, I still see these legacy types widely used in production systems today—and even in new developments. Surprisingly, many developers continue to use them, either out of habit, lack of awareness, or simply because they