Moving the tempdb database

You can move tempdb files by using the ALTER DATABASE statement.

1. Determine the logical file names for the tempdb database by using sp_helpfile as follows:

use tempdb
go
sp_helpfile
go

The logical name for each file is contained in the name column. This example uses the
default file names of tempdev and templog.

2. Use the ALTER DATABASE statement, specifying the logical file name as follows:

use master
go
Alter database tempdb modify file (name = tempdev, filename =
'E:\Sqldata\tempdb.mdf')
go
Alter database tempdb modify file (name = templog, filename =
'E:\Sqldata\templog.ldf')
go

You should receive the following messages that confirm the change:

Message 1
File 'tempdev' modified in sysaltfiles. Delete old file after
restarting SQL Server.

Message 2
File 'templog' modified in sysaltfiles. Delete old file after
restarting SQL Server.

3. Using sp_helpfile in tempdb will not confirm these changes until you restart SQL Server.
4. Stop and then restart SQL Server.

Moving TempDB - SQL School Video: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Video/65074/