See comments below... > insert /*+ append nologging */ > select rownum , rpad('x',1000) > into all_objects > > Append Nologging 34,456,000 > Append 34,456,000 > no hint 32,262,000 As already mentioned, /*+ append */ is enough and nologging seems to be not a valid hint but only option in DDL. INSERT /*+ APPEND */ ... won't work if you insert into IOT - lot's of undo and redo. We use workaround - CTAS. Also check you DB if it's in FORCE LOGGING mode: select FORCE_LOGGING from v$database; It's often done as protection for databases with standby. Can be disabled ALTER DATABASE NO FORCE LOGGING. FORCE LOGGING confused me once as we were doing some manipulation with production DB restored to test - it was working fine for hals a year and than filled all the UNDO and was terribly slow. It took a while to figure out that FORCE LOGGING has been enabled. :))) -- Best regards, Alex Gorbachev -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l