When using direct path load

Loading Methods

	Table

	Direct Path Load
Uses COMMIT

	Enforces only PRIMARY KEY, UNIQUE, and NOT NULL
Fires INSERT triggers

	Prevents other users from making changes to tables during load operation

Direct path loads use data saves to write blocks of data to Oracle data files. This is why the direct path loads are faster than the conventional ones. The following features differentiate a data save from COMMIT:
• During a data save, only full database blocks are written to the database.

• The blocks are written after the high-water mark (HWM) of the table.

Note: Direct path and parallel direct path loads are so similar (regarding DML activities) that they are not separated in this comparison.

Oracle Database 11g: Administration Workshop I 17 - 11

During a conventional path load, all enabled constraints are enforced in the same way that they are during any DML operation.

During direct path loads, the constraints are handled as follows:
•	constraints are disabled because they may use SQL functions. If only a small number of rows are to be inserted into a large table, use conventional loads. PRIMARY KEY and UNIQUE constraints are checked during and at the end of the load,

Direct loads cannot be used to load rows into clustered tables. Clustered tables can be loaded with conventional path loads only.

Locking