Converting managed table to external tables

[Roger667]

I have some managed tables in catalog which i plan to convert to external tables. But i want preserve the version history of the tables as well. I have tried deep cloning but it builds the external table as version 0. Is there any way i can achieve this?

[Alberto_Umana]

Hello @Roger667,

When you use the DEEP CLONE command, you can specify the version of the table you want to clone. This allows you to create a clone of the table at a specific version, thus preserving the version history up to that point. Here is an example of how to do this:

CREATE TABLE new_external_table DEEP CLONE managed_table VERSION AS OF <version_number> LOCATION 'path_to_external_location';

[ElizabethB]

I'm curious to know, what is the reason why you are looking to convert from managed to external? Most customers are looking to convert from external to managed, since UC managed tables help them reduce storage costs and increase query speeds. If there's anything we can do to make managed tables better, please let us know!